Interest rate cuts help Egypt real estate industry recover: Talaat Moustafa CEO

Chief executive of Egypt’s major real estate developer Talaat Moustafa Group has lauded the recent interest rate cut, saying it would help the country’s real estate sector recover.

“Cutting interest rates is a positive decision that will have an impact on the recovery of the sector and increase demand for buying.” Hesham Talaat Moustafa told Reuters Arabic on Sunday.

“Whenever there is a cut in interest, liquidity retention decreases, spending increases and markets improve, especially real estate.”

On Thursday, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) cut key interest rates by 150 basis points for the first time since February. It cut the overnight deposit rate to 14.25 percent from 15.75 percent and the overnight lending rate to 15.25 percent from 16.75 percent.

Many real estate developers in Egypt have suffered from the slowdown in demand for luxury housing units recently. This has led companies to devise new marketing methods such as increasing the repayment periods to between 10 and 15 years, among others.