PIF-owned SRC’s $270 million refinancing Deal with Saudi National Bank

The Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company (SRC), wholly owned by Saudi Arabia’s SWF Public Investment Fund (PIF), signed a joint cooperation agreement with the Saudi National Bank to purchase a real estate financing portfolio affiliated with the bank, with a value of more than $270 million on Sunday.

The Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, Majed bin Abdullah Al-Hogail, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Bank of Saudi Arabia Ammar Al-Khudairi were among those present.

The agreement is the largest real estate refinancing operation witnessed by the banking sector in the Kingdom and aims to sustain long-term liquidity in the residential real estate financing market and enhance potential risk management for real estate financing.

Housing Finance Solutions

Majed Al Ghamdi, Chief Executive Officer of retail at Saudi National Bank, said this agreement is the largest bank financing in Saudi Arabia to date. He also noted that the agreement will help provide housing finance solutions for Saudi families.

Majid Al-Ghamdi confirmed that the long-term partnership with SRC will provide residential real estate financing solutions that are commensurate with the aspirations of Saudi families, by providing the necessary financial liquidity to enhance the sustainability of providing financing solutions to families, and expand the base of beneficiaries in light of the increasing demand.

Inline With Vision 2030

Fabrice Susini, chief executive officer of SRC, asserted that the company continues to expand its partnerships with originators to boost the rate of Saudi homeownership to 70% by 2030 in line with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 initiative.

He pointed out that the agreement with the Saudi National Bank is the largest of its kind to refinance real estate portfolios in the banking sector, and comes as part of the company’s continuous efforts to support real estate financing service providers through liquidity and risk management solutions to provide affordable real estate financing, as these efforts contributed to reducing the proportion of The interest rate of real estate finance on citizens range between 7% and 4.5%, as well as raising the percentage of home ownership for Saudi families from 47% to more than 60% within four years.

On housing finance, providing capital and risk management tools were necessary for comprehensive operations and capital allocation, in order to achieve the objectives of the Iskan Program – one of the programs of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.