The real estate sector in Egypt could experience an unprecedented boom that may double the prices of real estate within three years, according to the predictions of Hany El-Assal, CEO of Misr Italia Holding Company and member of the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association.
El-Assal explained that Egypt has an exceptionally large number of real estate developers, compared to other countries worldwide. Other countries rely on contracting companies and other companies for engineering consultancy, rather than the banking system alone, whereby there is no segment that can acquire large areas of lands with no facilities to develop them, he noted.
El-Assal added that if any country that is advanced in the field of urban development had 50 real estate developers, it would immediately launch a national project that aims to establish 50 new cities that would result in 50 new urban communities. Egypt should be aware of this, and make use of the large number of major developers.
This method can be applied in developing the New El-Alamein City through a partnership between the government and real estate developers from the private sector, according to El-Assal. As such, the size of the projects and the areas of lands subject to the partnership would need to be assigned in accordance with the capabilities of the real estate developer, in terms of financial and technical solvency. These circumstances would guarantee achieving the development operations as soon as possible, without any problems.
He explained that the alternative to creating partnerships with the real estate developers would be to develop areas through auctions, which would allow a large number of investors with liquidity to participate. However, as they would not necessarily be developers, this would threaten the failure of the New El-Alamein City development.
El-Assal demanded that the state deal with the lands as a tool for development, and not a commodity in themselves, noting that the land’s price should be determined through the amount of developments on it.
