Quote of article (www.propertastic.com)

So 12 months ago it was quite a closely guarded secret, but word on the potential of the market seems to have been spreading fast during 2007, even though it's still only getting a fraction of the attention that markets such as Morocco or Bulgaria are getting.

Are you looking for a resort location with year-round sunshine?

Are you worried that, not only are you way too late into the market for the mature territories such as Spain and Cyprus, but that you have also missed the main bargains in the second generation territories of Morocco and Turkey?

As long as you understand that, in order to achieve high returns, you need to take on a higher amount of risk, the perfect solution for you is Egypt.

During 2007, prices have started rising fast for top-end prime location properties as developers realize that Egypt is a market with huge potential, and now there are some luxurious developments with prices of over EUR 1000/m2 in Sharm el-Sheikh. But still the entry costs for Egypt are incredibly low to all of the other markets that we cover on Propertastic!


The reason why property is so affordable here is that it is only recently that the Egyptian Red Sea coast has taken off as a resort destination.

But it has taken off fast now due to the fact that the season there lasts 365 days per year and the prices are incredibly cheap, even when compared to Turkey. The great value that Egypt offers has made the country especially attractive to Russian and Eastern Europeans, with many charter flights coming into Egypt from these destinations.

Tourism from the UK and Ireland is not yet so developed as Egypt is just a little too far for the budget airlines to be interested in the market, meaning that it is relatively expensive to fly to Egypt from there, although there are an increasing number of charter flights to the Red Sea Resorts.

Currently, here are two major resorts in Egypt – Sharm el-Sheik on the northern side of the Red Sea and Hurghada on the southern side. Sharm el-Sheik is the newer of the two; Hurghada having been established for longer.

It looks as if Sharm el-Sheikh is going to be the more exclusive of the two resorts, which accounts for the fact that prices are already ahead of those in Hurghada, but this has to be tempered with the additional security risk of Sharm el-Sheikh being that much closer to all of the Middle Eastern troublespots.

Another disadvantage to Sharm el-Sheikh compared to Hurghada is that foreigners are not allowed to buy property there on a freehold basis - it has to be bought on a leasehold basis with a maximum duration of 99 years.

Although Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada are the two locations that are currently seeing the majority of development on the Red Sea, it is inevitable that other resorts will start to take off, such as the Zafarana Beach Resort, which is located 135 km north of Hurghada.

If you are interested in buying property in Egypt, then it is better to arrange financing back home or to make a deal with a developer who is able to offer full financing deals.

So, everything about Egypt sounds great, doesn’t it ?

Low prices, high rental yields, rapidly increasing demand – wonderful!

But, if you’re buying off-plan, ask the developer what guarantees they are willing to give on the property. 

If you are buying existing properties, you really need to make sure that you work with a very good lawyer to ensure that you are buying exactly what you think you are buying.

You will also need the assistance of a lawyer in order to guide you through the process of registering the ownership of your property as there are two methods of doing this.

The first method registers you as the owner in the Land Registry. The downside to this however is that, as a foreigner, you are restricted to the number of properties you are allowed to buy in Egypt and you will also be unable to sell on the property in a period of less than five years.

The second method, which is probably the better of the two, is to register your ownership with a notary but not have your name listed at the Land Registry. This avoids the restrictions placed upon you as a foreigner.


If you are naturally risk-averse, Egypt is probably not for you and you would be better off investing in one of the EU countries. But if you are more of a speculative investor, or are building up a property portfolio across more than one country, then Egypt is definitely worth looking at in more detail. With prices so low at the moment, a 10% deposit on a reasonably sized apartment in a prime location should cost you less than EUR 5,000 in cash so, for most property investors, the amount of risk should be relatively low.



In summary, it's hard to find a better location in the World than Egypt at the moment if you are looking to make some serious medium-term gains.

The above contains our thoughts on the current state of the market. But, like any type of investment, there are no guarantees as prices are always influenced by a huge number of different variables.