RIYADH: Real estate loans by Saudi Arabia’s commercial banks climbed to a record SR922.2 billion ($245.9 billion) in the first quarter of 2025, marking an annual increase of just over 15 percent.
Based on data from the Kingdom’s central bank, also known as SAMA, this expansion is the fastest year-on-year growth in nearly two years, and underscores a robust resurgence in property financing.
This was driven chiefly by a surge in lending to commercial real estate projects even as home mortgages, which still form the lion’s share, grew at a more moderate pace.
Saudi banks’ retail mortgages, which are primarily home loans to individuals, accounted for about 75.8 percent of total outstanding real estate credit in the first quarter, reaching SR698.8 billion.
This represents an 11.7 percent year-on-year rise. Corporate real estate loans — the funding provided to developers and commercial ventures — grew nearly 27.5 percent over the same period to SR223.4 billion, outpacing the retail segment’s growth several times over.
