Lending remains rife in Saudi Arabia on continued growth in mortgage finance: KPMG

The lending space in Saudi Arabia’s banking sector has been rife with continued growth in mortgage financing throughout the COVID-19 environment, Khalil Ibrahim Al Sedais, Office Managing Partner, Riyadh KPMG, said in the Q3 2020 Saudi banking sector analysis report received by Argaam.

It is an endorsement of the housing demand in the country and testament of government support measures, he added.

Moreover, retail property buyers have welcomed the step-down of the tax rate from 15% back to 5% being a non-claimable component of the purchase cost in general.

“If these past trends are representative for the last quarter, then the introduction of RETT and sale drives witnessed each year-end, it is quite likely that the overall banking sector will end FY 2020 without major impact on profitability,” Al Sedais noted.

Saudi Arabia witnessed multiple efforts towards customers’ endurance at the back of the strong capital base and funding structure of the industry, expecting this to remain unchanged for the rest of the year, said Ovais Shahab, Head of Financial Services KPMG in Saudi Arabia.

“We foresee that the final quarter of this already eventful year is likely to be a nexus of several divergent themes and in the grand scheme of things the closure would depend on the continued tenacity and resilience of the sector founded on measures already taken by both the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and individual banks,” Shahab added.