From the beginning of November, instalments for the new phase of the social housing project reached EGP 1.08bn paid by 270,000 people. These instalments are to book 400,000 units dedicated to low-income citizens in new cities and governorates. Mohamed Okasha, managing director of Fawry, said 270,000 people have paid booking deposits through Fawry. Each instalment is worth EGP 4,000. Okasha told Daily News Egypt that Fawry began collecting instalments for social housing unit deposits from November, through its 55,000 payment points in several areas across Egypt. Meanwhile, head of the Mortgage Finance Fund (MFF) and CEO of the Social Housing Fund, Mai Abdel Hamid, said the ministry will continue to receive the first instalments through Fawry until mid-December. She added that the units are spread over 27 governorates, including Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Port Said, Ismailia, Gharbeya, Qalubiya, Sharqia, Daqahleya, Suez, Menoufiya, Damietta, Kafr El-Sheikh, Beheira, Fayoum, Beni Suef, Minya, Assiut, Sohag, Luxor, Qena, Aswan, the Red Sea, New Valley, Matrouh, and North and South Sinai. She explained that the total fund granted by banks to low-income customers of the MFF amounted to EGP 4.36bn since the Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) initiative was enforced. The MFF financial subsidy granted to customers increased to about EGP 1.1bn to support 55,000 customers. The CBE launched an initiative worth EGP 10bn to revitalise the real estate finance sector with an interest rate of 7% for low-income citizens and 8% for middle-income on units worth EGP 500,000. The bank also adjusted the initiative to increase the maximum funding to EGP 950,000 with an interest rate of 10.5%. The second phase of the initiative is set to include EGP 10bn. Abdel Hamid said the MFF contracted with 17 banks to finance the winners of social housing units and the Housing and Development Bank (HDB) topped this list of banks, followed by the National Bank of Egypt, Banque Misr, and Banque du Caire.
