Egypt’s real estate sector sees healthy performance – official

Egypt’s real estate sector is experiencing a very healthy phase due to the improved performance of the Egyptian market in general over the past two months, head of real estate investment division at the Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce said on Monday.

“The real estate market is very sensitive to fluctuations that the country’s economy goes through, which affects the real estate investment scene and purchasing volume and trends,” Mamdouh Badr El-Din further told Ahram Online.

Badr El-Din attributed the strong performance to real estate companies and developers decreasing the period of installment payments to three or five years instead of 10 years or more.

“Egypt’s real estate market is attractive for purchasing housing units in cash up front, with a notable cash liquidity in the domestic market,” he said.

Badr El-Din also added that the real estate developers federation draft law, which is being considered in the cabinet, has been one of the most important demands of real estate developers for years.

The new law, according to Badr El-Din, will push investments in the real estate sector and pave the way for foreign and local capital to flow to the domestic market.

The real estate sector’s performance was strong in the first quarter of 2019, according to the Cairo real estate market overview the first quarter of the year report released by JLL, a Cairo-based world leader in real estate services. The market is continuing to see a strong performance the second quarter.

As the government takes several measures to boost the economy, JLL anticipates that the various new development projects will continue to enhance confidence and drive investment in the coming months.

The residential sector registered mixed performance, with sale prices slowing over the quarter, while rental rates increased on the back of the limited supply of rental properties in Greater Cairo. The office sector continued to witness healthy growth levels, with integrated office parks within residential gated communities performing strongly, according to the report.

“Retail rents remained stable during the first quarter of 2019 but increased over the past year, with further growth expected in the rest of 2019,” the report said.

Source: Ahram Online