First quarter mortgage activity in Egypt rose by 30 percent, said Sherif Samy, head of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA), according to Amwal Al Ghad.

In 2016, mortgage companies were granted a total of EGP 303 million versus EGP 234 million in 2015, which represents a 30 percent growth, Samy added.

According to Samy, the EFSA is interested in the care given to the mortgage system as a whole rather than the regulations of the mortgage system, reported Daily News Egypt.

“It is illegal for companies to finance unregistered real estate units. The unregistered units account for 90 percent as of now,” Samy told Daily News Egypt.

Tedious procedures, illegal contracts, problems registering in notary offices, and the difficulty of paying fees are some of the reasons why real estate registration is between 10 to 15 percent, according to Mai Abdel Hamid, Head of Mortgage Finance Fund (MFF).