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Driving growth in the real estate industry: The Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing Ministry is out with draft regulations for the Developers Service Center (Etmam) in what it’s positioning as a bid to drive growth in the industry by cutting red tape, a draft of the regulations (pdf) shows. The regulations grant the real estate-focused center its own independent corporate body with financial and administrative independence.
The proposed regulations aim to make life easier for real estate developers, from license application onward. Among the powers Etmam would have:
- Delivering faster, clearer licensing procedures, including through delivery of real estate and municipal procedures;
- Making sure a wide range of government agencies quickly provide services to developers;
- Managing and supervising online platforms providing services to real estate developers;
- Registering and qualifying those engaged with real estate development at government and non-government entities;
- Carrying out technical reviews for projects’ blueprints + providing feasibility studies for projects to assess the viability of the project according to present and future local market needs.
One unified system: The regulations envision Etmam ensuring streamlined procedures for developers through a unified digital platform.
SOUND SMART- Launched in 2016, Etmam serves as a bridge between authorities and real estate developers. It’s mission has been to make it easier to launch housing projects and deliver a single-window digital system to speed-up approvals.
The gov’t wants to know what the public thinks: The ministry has put the draft regulations up for public consultation on the public consultation platform Istitlaa. Stakeholders have until 29 February to submit comments.
Why this matters now: The government has been pushing to attract fresh investment to the real estate industry as it looks to make housing more accessible to citizens. An off-plan property sales and rentals law is set to hit the market in April as the sector continues to gain steam. Off-plan sales are rising: Some 47 off-plan sales projects were licensed in the first six months of 2023, a 50% increase over the same period a year earlier, according to figures by the Municipal, Rural Affairs and Housing Ministry’s off-plan sales and leasing arm, WAFI.
