Real Estate Development Fund… The Harmony between Innovation and Communication
The last couple of years were fundamental for Real Estate Development Fund (REDF) to reinstate their new transformation system and showcase their achievements since the fund first announced the new system in 2017.
Before 2017, REDF had many accumulated challenges to overcome. More than 500,000 citizens were on the waiting list to acquire their mortgage support with an average waiting period of 12 to 15 years to claim the loan. REDF had the capability to only support 20,000 citizens per year which made it impossible to achieve the 2030 vision of having 60% of Saudis own their homes by 2020 and 70% by 2030.
Mr. Mansour Bin Madi, the CEO of REDF, with his team of experts in REDF had to find new innovative ways to accommodate this long waiting list in just 3 years to achieve the 2020 (60%) target; hence, they developed a new loaning system (subsidized) transforming from direct lending from REDF to indirect lending through renown Saudi financial institutions whereby REDF subsidized the (profit rate / interest rate) of mortgage loans up to SR 500,000.
“The perfect harmony between product innovation and proper communication is key to success” said Mr. Majid Roshdi, Chief of Marketing and Corporate Communications in REDF; whereby the marketing and communications team played a very important role under the direct supervision of the CEO by conveying the new REDF system with its innovative products’ offers targeting the right audience accurately with the proper messaging; hence, reaching 87% of awareness for REDF within the targeted society. All of this came after many successful activities and campaigns consisting of REDF transformation campaign, 30+ governmental entities targeted Expos, Euromoney’s Saudi housing finance live online series conveying the success of the entire Saudi housing program, as well as various product-centric and social awareness campaigns around Real Estate Development Fund.
REDF highly benefited from the resources and capabilities of its dedicated team as well as its financial and real estate partners. REDF was able to develop an award winning digitized model (Real Estate Advisory) connecting it with all financial partners. This helped in building great confidence with the Saudi target audience making the journey to own their homes easier and faster. REDF was able to clear out the entire backlog of 500,000 citizens on the waiting list from 2017 till 2020, and achieved the 60% ownership rate of Saudi beneficiaries by end of 2020.
REDF future plans and projects are huge and ambitious to meet the 2030 vision set by HRH King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz and his Heir Apparent HRH Prince Mohammad Bin Salman. The key objectives will be financial sustainability, strengthening the digital infrastructure and expanding the financing programs keeping the Saudi citizen well-being in the core of all its programs and communications.
