The Saudi Real Estate Refinancing Company (SRC) has signed an agreement with Saudi British Bank to buy residential real estate finance portfolios, through which the company will provide liquidity for the portfolios purchased for the bank, it has been announced.

SRC, an affiliate of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, said that the purchase of the portfolios is part of the agreements signed by the company with other local banks and specialised mortgage providers in the Kingdom, to purchase real estate finance portfolios.

In a statement it added that the deal was a clear demonstration of the company’s commitment to inject more liquidity to enable financiers to expand into the residential real estate finance sector and help reduce the gap between long-term assets and short-term liabilities.

SRC explained that this would have a positive impact on citizens through the lowering of costs of finance for owning a property. The rationale behind the company’s role is to ensure that there is a secondary mortgage market, in which lenders are provided with more financing and liquidity, enabling growth in the housing finance sector, it said.