Property Finder, an online real estate research platform, expects the Egyptian market to witness a strong boost in real estate sales, especially in the second half (2H) of this year.
The boost is supported by four main elements, the launch of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) for the real estate financing initiative for middle income of EGP 50bn, the fall in the price of the dollar against the Egyptian pound, the raising of the credit limit, and payment facilities made by real estate developers.
Property Finder said in its study that raising the credit limit, which comes in the framework of improving economic indicators and increasing the gross domestic of Egypt, including real estate loans for personal housing by 40% of total income, which will help in making the purchase decision for many, in addition to the payment facilities that real estate developers applied which could be 10 year interest-free instalments, which started in the 2H2019. These are expected to show its effects in the next year.
On the expectations for next year, Mohamed Hammad, managing director of Property Finder, stressed that the launch of the Central Bank for Medium Housing initiative is EGP 50bn, with easy conditions, provided that the unit price does not exceed EGP 2.25m, and the unit price is paid for 20 years maximum, with a 10% diminishing interest in addition to requiring finishing as an essential selling element, thus will support sales activity very well in 2020.
Commenting on the expected market movement for the coming year, Hammad expected a greater demand for new cities, driven by the fact that the market will witness deliveries to a large number of projects for primary and secondary housing in the same year, which will achieve a recovery movement in the supply market as well, including medium housing units for Dar Misr project, and some Projects in Katameya, Maadi, and East Cairo, as well as secondary housing projects in Ain Sokhna and the start of deliveries of new units in the new city of El Alamein.
On the behaviour of users in 2019, Hammad added, “We have noticed a slight increase in demand for the resale market due to the high finishing of the units, but the biggest boom comes in the primary market and rent.”
Based on an analysis of the behaviour of Property Finder users in 2019, more than 41% of the users of the platform depend on communication between the user and the unit viewer through the “WhatsApp” application, meaning that users take additional steps to identify additional information that may support the purchase decision.
He pointed out that Greater Cairo during the last quarter of 2019 acquired for about 78% of searches for real estate units on Property Finder, followed by Alexandria with 7%, and the North Coast with 6.8%, which supports the platform’s vision about the behaviour of users in the acquisition of units for primary and secondary housing.
Hammad has exposed the role of technology platforms, led by Property Finder in facilitating supply and demand in the real estate market in a market of 100 million people, more than 50% of whom use the internet on a daily basis. He predicts that during the next few years, Egyptians will move to a wider and greater use of digital platforms when searching for real estate. Therefore, the market needs to prepare and provide greater transparency to display information in order to facilitate buyers’ decision-making.
