Saudi Press Agency and King Salman

real estate: We witnessed the beginnings of this only last week with $2.2 billion of prime real estate being sold off over two consecutive days, according to Business Week. One of the King Salman first policy decisions after taking power in January was to approve a tax on millions of acres of so-called white land: development plots in cities that lie empty for years because the owners have no incentive to build on them, the official Saudi Press Agency reported 23 March. The government plan to charge fees for undeveloped land may trigger a flight of capital from real estate into the capital market, Chief Executive Officer of the Saudi Stock Exchange Tadawul Adel Al-Ghamdi said on 5 May. About 40 per cent of the land in the capital, Riyadh, sits vacant, the Saudi Housing Ministry estimated in 2013. The Riyadh-based Capital Market Authority finalised rules on Monday, paving the way for inclusion in MSCI Emerging Markets Index as early as 2017. The kingdom stock market is preparing to receive its first direct foreign investment in equities next month, part of a plan by OPEC biggest crude exporter to diversify its economy away from oil. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.