Real estate developers believe companies listing on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) gives them a great opportunity for expansion through acquiring cheap funding. This contributes to pushing the market towards growth, in addition to offering stability in the country, according to Chairman of Rooya Group Hisham Shoukry. During a government, developer and contractor conference, Shoukry said the nature of the real estate developer is to be listed in the stock market to allow him to gain funds. Shoukry believes that growth of the real estate business is very successful, and in spite of the recent instability, the business sector is stable and is unlikely to decline. Unlike Shoukry, Hani Sarie-Eldin, Professor of Law at Cairo University, believes that listing real estate companies on the EGX cannot be done through subscription first. EGX listing is rather, he argues, a tool of expansion and acquiring funds. "Similar cases took place before on the EGX, where real estate development companies achieved significant profits before being listed on the EGX," according to Sarie-Eldin, who added that the process of achieving profit is a major condition in order to list companies in EGX. Hassan Hussein, Chairman of the Board and Managing Director of El-Taamir for Mortgage Finance Co., said the real estate sector is witnessing stability. This pushes it to grow, in spite of the increase in prices of building and construction materials, where there is a high demand for real estate in Egypt. "The high prices of building and construction materials and lands force developer to raise prices," Shoukry said, adding that he does want prices to rise without witnessing full growth. According to Tarek Shoukry, Chairman of Arabia Group for Development, real estate prices in Egypt during the last 10 years until the beginning of 2014 achieved a growth of 420%. He added that this huge growth makes real estate in Egypt more valuable than gold.
