by FSBO 
Is this a good time to put up your property for sale in Egypt?
There are a lot of people who are trying to sell property in Egypt right now for different reasons. What’s the story in Egypt?
Egypt is still recovering from the political instability of the Arab Spring of 2011, but things are moving slowly in the right direction.
Contrary to the perception that a lot of western investors have about Egypt being a volatile country, the property market there is actually quite calm and reasonably healthy. 2022 saw huge investments from across Europe, The Middle East, and even the Russians still buy in Egypt in record numbers despite the conflict in Ukraine Egypt still holds its doors open for Russian investment.
Most Egyptians consider properties to be the ONLY safe investment possible in Egypt at this moment of time.
Mohamed Banany of Coldwell Banker says in an interview with Business Today Egypt, “The market is expected to continue to operate normally being a safe investment haven to many buyers, but some components may differ in 2023, for example, there is a growing demand on the Administrative Capital city that will continue to rise in 2023.”
Another local real estate expert, Ahmed Shalaby of the top real estate developing company Tatweer Misr says, “Generally it is not really a matter of what to invest in, the question is rather whether there is another safe investment that will ensure that the value of your money will not depreciate other than real estate.”
One worrying sign is that home prices have actually dropped by half since 2014. This is not because of any weakness in the property market, but because of the weakness of the Egyptian currency ever since it was floated by the government.
Shalaby says the decision of the government to float the Egyptian currency is good for the property market: “The flotation will be positive for the real estate sector and will create an attractive investment climate that brings stability to the market.”
“While we cannot say definitively how the outlook will be at the current time until things become clearer, we do not expect in the short future that demand on housing will vary as there may be increased demand by those seeking investments to offset demand by those seeking housing. Real Estate developers will have to also play their role in finding creative offers and incentives that will attract customers,” he says.
Inflation is a major issue in Egypt, because of which there are few great investment opportunities. Egypt has a very small stock market where you won’t find too many serious investors. The banks cannot be relied upon either, and have been known to fail, even the big ones.
For this reason, people in Egypt are left with little choice but to invest in properties. Haitham Khalifa, a local property consultant says, “The more inflation is on the rise, the more people will run towards real estate, regardless of the real demand and real supply.”
As Yasseen Mansour of Palm Hills Development, one of the biggest private property developers in the country says, “You have a million marriages a year and 2.5 million people coming into the market every year.” True that!
