Saudi refinancer targets $40 billion in housing finance by 2030

The latest:

The Saudi Real Estate Refinance Company is targeting more than $40 billion in refinancing by 2030, Minister of Municipalities and Housing Majed Al-Hogail said, against current refinancing operations of about $18.7 billion. Speaking at the 2026 Ginnie Mae Global Investor Summit in Virginia, he tied the push to linking mortgage lending to long-term capital sources and widening the investor base behind Saudi housing debt.

Details:

• The market size: Al-Hogail put Saudi Arabia’s real estate finance market at roughly $260 billion, with refinancing operations accounting for about $18.7 billion of it. The 2030 target of more than $40 billion would more than double current volumes, positioning SRC as a far larger intermediary between lenders and capital markets.
• The sukuk record: Issuances under SRC’s International Sukuk Programme, listed on the London Stock Exchange, have exceeded $7.2 billion, the minister said. More than 300 investment institutions took part in the company’s inaugural $2 billion issuance, a figure he cited as evidence of international appetite for Saudi real estate-backed paper.
• Ownership numbers: Homeownership among Saudi families rose from around 47% in 2016 to more than 66% by the end of 2025, according to Al-Hogail, with a government target of 70% by 2030. Nearly one million families, about 25% of Saudi households, have benefited from housing support programs.
• Five pillars: Al-Hogail described the housing finance system as resting on government guarantees, financing guarantees, securitization, financing services and data standardization. Together, he said, these strengthen liquidity, distribute risk, broaden the investor base and improve disclosure on the performance of financing portfolios.
• The cost pressure: Rising global financing costs have weighed on household purchasing power, the minister said, making innovation in financing structures more urgent. He pointed to diversifying liquidity sources, distributing risk efficiently and developing more stable long-term products for borrowers as the response.
• Supply side: Building a balanced market requires increasing supply, improving development efficiency and channeling support to eligible recipients, Al-Hogail said. He also called for competitively priced units, regulation of landlord-tenant relations, greater transparency, and protection of all parties in off-plan sales.
• The regulators: The minister framed the sector as operating within a clear regulatory framework overseen chiefly by the Saudi Central Bank and the Capital Market Authority. He invited foreign investors to participate in fixed-income instruments and Saudi real estate-backed securities issued against that framework.
• SRC’s wider plan: Beyond refinancing volumes, the company is seeking to expand cooperation in securitization, guarantees and data, and to develop financing products and technologies for managing credit risk. No timeline was given for those initiatives beyond the 2030 refinancing target.
• Demand base: Al-Hogail grounded the projected demand in demographics, describing Saudi housing need as underpinned by a young population. That argument is central to the pitch to institutional investors, who are being asked to fund mortgage assets over decades rather than years.

Background:

SRC was established to buy mortgage portfolios from lenders and refinance them through capital markets, freeing bank balance sheets to issue new loans. The 70% homeownership goal is among the housing targets of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 program.

Between the lines:

The venue matters: a Ginnie Mae summit is where US mortgage securitization investors gather, and the minister’s emphasis on data standardization and disclosure quality speaks to that audience’s requirements. With refinancing at $18.7 billion against a $260 billion mortgage market, most Saudi housing debt still sits on bank balance sheets — the gap SRC’s 2030 target is designed to close.

What’s next

Watch for new SRC issuances under the London-listed sukuk programme and their subscription levels, movement in the homeownership rate toward the 70% target, and regulatory changes from the Saudi Central Bank or Capital Market Authority on securitization.