Saudi Arabia's national home finance company, Bidaya, may kick off by the end of this year, part of efforts to raise low levels of home ownership in the country, Reuters reported citing founding sponsor.

In development since 2010, the company is a venture between the finance ministry's Public Investment Fund and the Jeddah-based Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD), a unit of the Islamic Development Bank.

Bidaya is in its last phase of development prior to launch and will submit an application for a licence as soon as regulations under the kingdom's mortgage laws are finalised, ICD chief executive Khaled Al-Aboodi told Reuters.