The real estate sector in Egypt remains a reliable investment destination, as economic challenges and growing prices are looming on the horizon.
Such investment has long been an integral part of the Egyptian culture and now, under the circumstances of unprecedented inflation, it has proven its benefits again compared to, say, gold or certificates of deposit.
The real estate market is growing at impressive rates. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics, the cumulative number of residential properties built in Egypt in the 2020 – 2021 fiscal year is about 336,300 units. The total investment value was EGP 150 billion. In the 2019 – 2020 fiscal year, 194,200 residences worth EGP 79 billion were built.
Construction of social housing was particularly active in 2020 – 2021: it accounted for 50.3% of the total volume, i.e. 169,100 units. 123,700 and 17,100 houses were built for middle and upper middle class respectively. High-end homes accounted for 7.8% (26,300 residences).
This August, the real estate sector was number one by market value at trading on the Egyptian Stock Exchange. 4.6 billion shares worth EGP 7.1 billion were sold. In the third quarter of 2022, this sector continued growing, occupying 21.8% of the market.
Ahmed Shalabi, CEO and Managing Director at Tatweer Misr, says that over the first half of the current year, very active sales were recorded in the real estate sector. The reason for their growth was the fact that people still wanted to buy homes despite high prices, as the value of such assets never deteriorates. Prices increased by about 15 – 20% in the first half-year, and their growth is expected to reach up to 30% by the end of the year, yet the consumer demand is still high.
Most large developers in the Egyptian market have ramped up their sales due to a greater number of units sold and the new projects they launched.
