By Mohamed Ahmed
A research report by Pharos Investment Banking has revealed a slowdown in high-end real estate project sales in the Egyptian market.
The Economic Research Department explained that the sales decline in real estate companies that focus on high-end projects specifically occurred during the second quarter of 2015.
Despite companies linking this decline to the month of Ramadan, which usually witnesses a sales slowdown, there is evidence that suggests consumers’ purchasing power is no longer able to accommodate new projects, unlike in the past three years.
According to Pharos, these signs include stabilisation in sales prices, as well as longer premium periods provided by companies lately, such as Emaar.
The report said the corporation has been monitoring selected real estate companies that offer longer instalment periods to observe the demand rate, and noticed that they offer longer premium systems.
For example, Emaar Misr recently began marketing a seven-year instalment system, promoting it during the recently held Cityscape Egypt exhibition. According to the prospectus, the company originally offered another payment option that allows customers to pay the full purchase price by the time of unit delivery, a period of three to four years, provided that Emaar Misr delivers the units within the mentioned period.
