CAIRO GOES FOR GROWTH

Cairo was named the fastest-growing city in the world in 2017 by Euromonitor, with forecasts that its population will rise by 0.5 million this year alone.

With this flourishing growth spurt - developers are gearing up for a new build homes extravaganza. Since 2014 rentals and sales prices for apartments in the city alone have witnessed 15% – 20% year-on-year growth. Analysts say, despite significant price increases across the economy that followed the flotation of the Egyptian pound in November last year – the market still has a long way to run before peaking. Since November - the pound has lost half its value against the dollar and inflation is running at 33%. In these conditions, property, long seen by Egyptians as the primary repository of value, is retaining even more of its asset-value attractiveness.

Although, considerable supply is expected to enter the market, demand is forecast to remain strong in the medium term due to the rapidly increasing number of households. Homebuyers can also take advantage of flexible payment plans offered by developers spanning up to 10-years in some instances.

A case in point drawing domestic and overseas investor interest - is New Capital City – which has a vision of being a city community by itself. The majority of the 33,000 units scheduled in the project scheduled for delivery over the next three years will be located in New Cairo.

“New Capital City has had a direct effect on developers’ plans to expand further to the East. Major announcements within the vicinity of the project include eight districts in Mostakbal City, with more projects expected to be announced once the necessary infrastructure is completed,” says JLL in its latest Cairo review.