This year will still likely be a year of mortgage growth in Saudi Arabia, a report said, adding that market leaders are likely to speed up mortgage growth in the first half (H1) of 2022.

ARB, BJAZ and Bilad have the highest mortgage exposure, according to Al Rajhi Capital, a leading financial services provider in the kingdom..

“Mortgage growth after 2022 may moderate. We expect the pace of refinancing to increase in 2022 and 2023,” Al Rajhi Capital said in its “Rate hikes, mortgage updates and 2022 outlook” report.

“We expect overall corporate lending growth to be 5-6% in 2022. Winners from this could be banks such as SABB, SNB.

“No material growth in government securities (15% of total banking assets) as Saudi moves to budget surplus. Expect a significant amount of Sukuk issuance in the next 2 years as LDR has jumped.

“NIMs to expand by 40bps at the system level helping banks likely to grow by 15% of net income from current levels. However, rate hikes may pause once inflation cools,” it added. – TradeArabia News Service