The Housing and Development Bank (HDB) will start selling applications for reserving housing units in the second phase of middle-income housing project on 4October. The phase was announced by the Ministry of Housing in 12 new cities, and banks will start receiving down payments in the period from 4 October to 5 November. The second phase consists of 25,656 housing units, on areas ranging from 100 metres to 150 meters for each unit, in 6th of October City, Sheikh Zayed, New Cairo, Shorouk, Obour City, Badr City, 10th of Ramadan City, New Damietta, Sadat City, New Minya, New Burj Al-Arab, and 15th of May City. Minister of Housing Mostafa Madbouly said there are two ways to reserve housing units. The first is reserving units with payment over five years without benefits, and the second is through the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) real estate initiative. The CBE provides funds of EGP 500,000 per unit, with an annual interest rate of 8% on the reservation period, which extend to 15 years. Madbouly added that the project is being implemented as an integrated services compound. In February 2014, the CBE announced it had allocated EGP 10bn ($1.44bn) to finance low-income housing projects, with the aim of boosting the construction and real estate sectors.
