Riyadh – Mubasher: The number of new mortgage contracts in Saudi Arabia surged by 147% year-on-year (YoY) in January, according to the monthly bulletin of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA).

Last month marked the highest level of mortgage loans in the history of Saudi banks, in terms of the number of contracts as well as provided finances.

The number of mortgage contracts reached around 23,668 contracts, compared with 9,578 in January 2019, with an increase of 2% on a monthly basis compared to its level in December of last year.

Commercial banks accounted for 94% of these contracts, while housing finance companies provided 6%.

Products supported by the housing programs accounted for 22,432 contracts with a total value of SAR 9.4 billion, or about 93% of the total finances.