Recently, Egyptian government has announced several mega real estate projects that support the sector and bridge the gap between supply and demand by building new affordable cities across Egypt such as New Administrative Capital, New Mansoura, New Alaimen, New Fayoum city, New Aswan city and other new cities in Upper Egypt area, furthermore, the Central Bank of Egypt launched plans to grant mortgage finance targeting middle-class tranche. Real estate exhibitions are a destination dedicated to all those looking for opportunities to move to a new housing or investment opportunity in the constantly rising real estate market. Walid Mokhtar managing director at Iwan Developments believes that the last quarter of the current year will witness a revival in real estate sales driven by the interest rate cut, which is expected to continue slashing in the coming period due to decreased rates of inflation. Mokhtar elaborated that customers began to trust investing in property as well as the recent monetary policies encouraged them to identify investment opportunities in several real estate and commercial projects. Accordingly, he expected a further decrease in the interest rate and additional expiration of high-return certificates in return the value of the real estate is stable or increases year after year. Faariss Khalil, Exhibition Manager of NextMove Egypt, said: "The depreciation of Egyptian pound stimulates investment by individuals who live outside the country with the opportunity for long-term investments.” He stressed that the real estate market is witnessing an increasing demand for housing with a growing population of 2.5 million people and one million marriages annually. Khalil noted that the main components of the real estate market have been positively impacted by a series of government incentives that enhance real estate investment opportunities in the country. “We look positively at the future of the sector and the Egyptian real estate market,” said Khalil, predicting that real estate companies will be able to achieve significant growth and prosperity in terms of value in the coming years. For his part, property expert Fathallah Fawzy has praised the interest-rate cut move, stressing that it would reduce costs for the sector's companies and will improve the economy. This decision will benefit mortgage finance seekers, as well as companies aiming to borrow from banks, Fawzy pointed out, noting that the decision would not have a major impact on real estate companies' sales as citizens' purchasing power remains weak due to the rising property prices. Abdallah Sallam founder and CEO of Minka Investment said that CBE's decision to cut interest rate was an extremely positive move and hopes for further cuts in the interest rate which will help promote real estate investments, grow the market, and increase the appetite for investment in real estate and other sectors as well, he is confident that the current economic direction will attract a lot of investment to a promising and rewarding Egyptian market. Sallam believes that the Egyptian market and population are growing at a rate that guarantees continuous and increasing demand that is not yet fulfilled. Reda El Menshawy, sales manager at Diarna Real Estate, said slashing interest rates, decrease inflation and expiration of Suez Canal certificates will stimulate the market during the current quarter. However, El Menshawy confirmed that there is a great demand in localities more than Greater Cairo, calling developers to focus on launching projects in these areas to bridge the gap between demand and supply and achieve high returns of their projects in these areas. He further noted that the Egyptian State has to expand urban areas in closed governorates [the governorates do not have an opportunity to expand urban areas and experiencing high population density]. Marketing and Public Relations Director Tamer Saeed at NP Solutions agreed with El Menshawy that the recent decision taken by the government will compensate the slowdown in sales that the sector has witnessed over the last nine months.
