President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi issued a legislative amendment to the Mortgage Law on Saturday, which would allow – for the first time ever – companies with foreign capital to finance mortgage in Egypt, in a move to provide low-income housing.
According to the law, companies with foreign capital will be treated as companies with Egyptian capital, and will be exempt from Article 1 of the mortgage law regarding non-Egyptian real estate and land space. They will not be exempt from the two articles following Item 3, which stipulates that real estate cannot be subject to the Law of Antiquities, nor from Article 4, which obliges the investor to build within a period not exceeding five years.
Presidential spokesman Ihab Badawi said the decision comes in the framework of the state’s obligation to provide affordable housing for people with limited income, in addition to putting in place legal measures which would allow for mortgage financing that would provide adequate and appropriate housing to those who need it.
“The law has been introduced in the context of providing mortgages for the use and lease of housing which will end with ownership, in addition to mortgages that are currently financing the purchase, building, restoration, or renovation of real estate,” according to chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) Sherif Samy.
