Based on the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to hold events and exhibitions that highlight housing services and financing programmes, Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, the Deputy Prime Minister, opened the third edition of the Housing Finance Exhibition.
The Housing Finance Exhibition 2024 is organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning at City Centre Bahrain on February 8-17.
The Deputy Premier affirmed the positive outcomes of the housing programmes launched in partnership with the private sector, confirming the success of the kingdom’s approach to providing sustainable housing services, in line with the visions of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and the aspirations of the government, led by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, to ensure decent housing for low-income citizens.
Shaikh Khalid bin Abdulla indicated that based on its 2023-2026 plan, the government is doing its utmost to diversify the housing solutions provided to citizens in a way that contributes to reducing waiting periods by integrating and optimally using the resources, capabilities and competencies of the public and private sectors, especially in the field of affordable social housing.
He pointed out that the provision of thousands of financing services over the past two years proves the usefulness of the Housing Financing Programme, which is an innovative housing solution. He also highlighted the success in implementing eight housing projects in 2023 and 2024, under the Government Land Development Programme, in line with the directives of HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.
He added that the remarkable acceleration in providing thousands of housing services to citizens in partnership with the private sector over the past period has reflected positively on the national economy, especially regarding real estate activities sector, business services, and the construction sector, which are key engines of the non-oil GDP.
The Deputy Prime Minister also inaugurated the upgraded version of the Bayti Real Estate platform (baity.bh) which provides real estate and financing consultations to the citizens wishing to benefit from financial services. In this regard, he praised the new version’s provision of features that facilitate the citizens’ choice of housing appropriate to their living needs and financial solvency.
Amna Al Rumaihi, Housing and Urban Planning Minister, expressed thanks and gratitude to the Deputy Premier for opening the Housing Finance Exhibition and inaugurating the Bayti Real Estate platform, in line with the directives of HRH the Crown Prince and Prime Minister’s directives in this regard.
The minister said that the current edition of the Housing Finance Exhibition had attracted more participants, including four mega real estate companies, 24 real estate brokerage companies and eight commercial banks participating in the housing financing programme, which will contribute to providing more social housing opportunities for the citizens.
She indicated that the remarkable surge in the number of participants in the Housing Finance Exhibition is the outcome of the positive results of the Housing Financing Programme and the increase in the volume of real estate transactions of the private sector companies, noting that the Housing and Urban Planning Ministry will expand its partnership programmes with the private sector in the coming period through the Government Land Development Programme to provide more units that suit the financing received by the citizens.
She added that the upgraded version of the Bayti Real Estate platform (baity.bh) will provide more options for the citizens to benefit from housing services, noting that more interactive features will be added to the platform in order to enable its users to complete their transactions electronically, as part of the Ministry’s digitalisation plan.
Minister Al Rumaihi called on the citizens wishing to benefit from financing options to visit the platform and be informed about the financing and real estate products available through it.
BNA(R)
