Author : editorial
MAKKAH: The price of a single square meter of land in Makkah has reached SR500,000 in some places with the potential to increase further close to the Grand Mosque.
"The price of land is steadily increasing with the expansion of the Grand Mosque to accommodate more worshippers," said real estate investor Ahmad Al-Ghamdi.
"This is the one place in the world where land is so expensive. Land in Makkah, especially close to the Grand Mosque, has become more precious than gold and diamonds," he added.
Al-Ghamdi said investment cartels are in fierce competition to gain a foothold because of the feasible returns. "Muslims flock to Makkah in millions every year from across the world. The city therefore needs more buildings to accommodate them," he said.
Al-Ghamdi also said the price of land in areas away from the Grand Mosque is also increasing due to development projects around the prayer complex. "The demand for houses by residents of Makkah has increased by more than 54 percent. This is more than the normal demand everywhere and more than the average annual population increase which is 2.5 percent," he said. Ibrahim Abdul Halim, a real estate evaluator, said the rising demand for homes is natural since the city is important to Muslims across the world. "Apart from visitors and pilgrims, Makkah has a population of more than 688,000 people, including around 137,000 families," he said.
Abdul Halim said the families need 88,600 apartments and 13,700 independent houses. "Over the next few years, there will be an increased demand for more than 35,000 apartments with investments of more than SR12 billion and about 2,500 villas and independent houses costing more than SR14 billion," he said. He also said Makkah will need about 13 million square meters of empty land to construct apartment buildings and about a million square meters to build villas.
Meanwhile, local press reports on Wednesday said compensation to be given to the owners of buildings, which were demolished for the expansion of the Grand Mosque, will reach more than SR40 billion.
Source : Arab News
Source : Arab News
