Mohamed Banany, vice president of Coldwell Banker and Coldwell Banker New Homes, said that Egypt has experienced the export of real estate since the start of the activity of real estate development, so it is important to develop infrastructure, to allow the export of real estate, and the provision of airports and maintenance of the units that are marketed to the client.
Banany called for the need to establish a government body responsible for the export of property file, which includes all the entities responsible for this file, such as the Ministries of Justice, Tourism, Interior, Housing, and real estate marketers and developers, through which certain areas in Egypt are marketed to foreigners.
He pointed out that this proposed body is based on three main axes. One, the research part responsible for understanding the customer’s needs and their desired unit. Two, the competitive Egyptian markets for this file. Three, providing country data which client needs regarding the economic situation, and the return on investment. So that the customer’s access to all the services and procedures will be facilitated.
For his part, Chairperson for Badr El Din Co. for Real Estate Projects, Mamdouh Badr ElDin, said that there are some elements supporting property export, which encourages foreign clients to purchase a unit in Egypt. The most prominent of which are banks that foreign clients deals with, to facilitate procedures of transferring funds inside Egypt, and the need for a neutral legal adviser and coach to help foreign clients.
Badr ElDin stressed that the Ministry of Housing played its role in property export. He added that a national committee should be formed to study all the needs of the foreign client, and ways to provide these needs, as well as enhancing the government agencies’ efforts which have been concluded thus far in this file.
Egyptian real estate is the lowest priced real estate compared to other international markets, which gives Egyptian property a competitive advantage that must be exploited in the coming period, he indicated.
Hisham Shoukry, chairperson of the Real Estate Export Council and CEO of Rooya Holding, said that the first experience in the export of real estate, at Cityscape Dubai, was unique. This included the cooperation of all developers in the same pavilion and with the Ministry of Housing to market the Egyptian real estate market and not just specific projects.
Furthermore, he pointed out that the foreign buyer purchases his unit through the mortgage finance system, which is difficult to deal with in the Egyptian market, because of the high interest rate of mortgage finance in Egypt, so we need to provide it to the customer in dollars.
The Real Estate Export Council is the only authority that issues a product that has nothing to do with its affiliate, the Ministry of Industry. It should begin transferring the subordination of this council to a responsible body for real estate, so that it can be activated and to benefit from this council, Shoukry explained.
