Saudi women realtors to form association
JEDDAH: A number of Saudi businesswomen, who are investing in real estate, are planning to announce the establishment of their first association in Jeddah soon, market sources told Arab News.
They said the constituent assembly of the association would comprise 12 women investors from the three cities of Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. They added that the founders come from wellknown Saudi business families.
The sources said top priority of the association would be to raise the level of women's participation in real estate market on correct scientific and economic bases so as to ensure the contribution of women in the development of the national economy. The sources noted that the entry of Saudi women in the real estate market during the past few years has created a wide base of female realtors. They said women now control about 20 percent of the real estate market in the Kingdom that is considered the second largest in the world with investments crossing two trillion riyals. Ahmed Al-muhandis, member of the National Real Estate Committee, said last year building constructions in Jeddah alone were estimated to be at more than SR200 billion. He expected the construction works to continue at a rapid pace in the coming years in the light of the current economic boom.
Al-muhandis expected the real estate market to flourish with increasing demand for housing units and the announcement of the government to establish more economic cities and industrial regions. "With this rapidly growing market more and more women will enter the real estate sector. The women are actually now competing with men at this sector which was solely dominated by men until very recently," he said.
Al-muhandis was happy to see businesswomen entering the real estate market as investors and marketers and said such a move would change the attitude of society toward women. He expected a rise in women realtors in the near future especially when they establish their own association. Speaking to Arab News, a number of women realtors said they entered the real estate market for a host of reasons, the most important being it was a safe market with good financial returns.
Izdihar Batoura, a female real estate expert, said she entered this market more than a decade ago, adding: "I was looking for distinction. There were not many women realtors at the time."
She said many Saudi women investors have become proficient in concluding real estate deals and in other transactions of selling, buying and marketing.