Interest rate cuts to make Egypt real estate investments grow 70%

Chairman of Egypt’s real estate firm Bahay Group has lauded the recent interest rate cuts, saying the move would increase the country’s real estate investments by 70 percent.

Cutting interest rate would help the construction sector recover in Egypt, Amr el-Bahay said on Friday.

“Construction is the one of the sectors that highly rely on banking finances,” el-Bahay said.

Whenever there is a cut in interest, stagnant funding in banks will be directed to provide new job opportunities for youth and daily employment, he added.

On Thursday, Egypt’s central bank cut its key interest rates for the second month in a row, after inflation dropped further and as central banks globally ease monetary policy.

The overnight deposit and lending rates were cut by 100 basis points to 13.25 percent and 14.25 percent respectively.

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.