Buyers rush to purchase Egyptian real estate as prices rise

Egypt’s property developers have suspended sales as the market feels the pinch of a stronger dollar and the higher cost of building materials. The local real estate market is going through what analysts describe as repricing, citing high world prices of energy, freight and global economic uncertainty.

Against a backdrop of growing inflation rates, prices of residential units have been increasing since the central bank devalued the pound and raised interest rates by 100 basis points on March 21.

“Developers have increased prices between 15% and 25% on their new launches. In terms of the market dynamics, we have seen buyers rushing to buy real estate in the medium term, and this is due to the fact that they would like to hedge against the drop in value of the local currency against the US dollar,” Ayman Sami, country head of real estate and investment management firm JLL Egypt, told Al-Monitor.

According to him, the devaluation had many implications on the real estate market with the primary challenge being managing costs.