About 73 per cent of Saudi citizens do not have houses of their own, a Shoura Council member said urging authorities to speed up disbursement of loans.

The Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) must speed up the disbursement of loans in order to help people build homes before it becomes more expensive, an Arab News report quoting the member said.

Ezzuddin Hafiz, a Saudi teacher, said it is very difficult to get loans from the REDF. Those who have applied for loans 20 years ago are only getting them now. Prices of real estate and building materials are going up every day, he said.

He said though the REDF has increased the loan amount from SR300,000 to SR500,000, it is not enough. People need at least SR1 million," he said in the report.

The Shoura, meanwhile, criticised the Housing Ministry, saying it was very slow in carrying out its projects. It said it was not convinced by the statistics given by the Ministry of Economy and Planning that 60 percent of Saudis own houses, the report said.

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