Video Construction Egypt’s weaker currency attracting foreign real estate investors By Shruthi Nair October 24, 2024, 7:54 AM Omar El Hamamsy, CEO of Orascom Development shares his insight on Egyptian real estate Egypt’s economic recovery and currency devaluation has resulted in the “rediscovery of the real estate market by foreign investors”, according to the chief of the country’s largest waterfront developer, fuelling price rises in the secondary and tertiary segments. Population growth in the Arab world’s biggest country, and wealth creation in some socioeconomic segments, have also driven demand and prices in primary cities like Cairo and Giza. The real estate price index surged by around 40 percent in Q1 2024 following a year-on-year price growth of 22 percent in the previous year, according to figures from Egypt’s leading real estate portal, Aqarmap. While there are concerns of local demand slowing down, developers are optimistic about foreign investors buying in waterfront communities at least for the next five to 10 years. “On the Red Sea, half of our sales are coming from outside Egypt. And this is going to drive the price evolution and demand increase in the total addressable market,” said Omar El Hamamsy, CEO of Orascom Development. Real estate picks up in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province Mid-range housing leapfrogs affordable competition in Dubai Housing market in Turkey bounces back to 2022 levels With a land bank of more than 100 million sq m, Orascom Development operates 11 projects across seven countries in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. The company’s revenues, profits and real estate sales were up 20 percent, 36 percent and 59 percent, respectively in the first half of 2024 compared with the previous year. “Across Orascom, we’ve had tremendous volume of interest not from retail investors but from sub-developers who want to take a large plot of land and build their own sub communities. We’ve seen that in Montenegro and Egypt,” he added. As the developer that has managed to develop virgin spots on the Red Sea into integrated communities such as El Gouna and Makadi Heights, Hamamsy says, “The hardware isn’t the issue; software is.” Watch the full video to find out if there are fears of a bubble in Egypt’s primary cities.