By: Eman Ibrahim
Translated by Wael Hossam El Din
For around 12 years, Egypt’s prominent real estate expo, Cityscape, has stood as a pivotal gathering for both investors and developers. This yearly four-day event provides a platform for clients to capitalize on investment prospects presented by leading real estate firms. These companies vie to showcase their projects’ distinctive attributes and amenities to potential clients.
What sets apart this real estate exhibition is its strong backing from the Egyptian Ministry of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Communities, along with the support of more than 20 sponsoring companies spanning various sectors, enhancing its value.
Moreover, Cityscape’s organizers are committed to introducing new developments annually, addressing pertinent industry issues that help shape its prospects, and exploring innovative solutions to its challenges.
An imminent issue for discussion is real estate development. The exhibition will spotlight successful case studies from the Egyptian market. These include mixed-use projects, residential, and commercial endeavors, and other innovative property concepts, all aimed at presenting strategies to sustain activity and growth.
Industry experts surveyed by Invest-Gate unanimously agree on the significant role of Cityscape for both developers and clients, spanning promotional efforts, sales stimulation, and sector-specific discussions.
Reviving the Real Estate Sector
Real estate expert Abdulmaged Jado highlights the potential of real estate exhibitions to rejuvenate the industry by introducing appealing products, accompanied by effective marketing strategies that facilitate customer decision-making. These exhibitions could also drive the channeling of investments toward more lucrative property categories, bolstering investment portfolios.
Jado further emphasized that these exhibitions offer a vital promotional opportunity for real estate developers to tangibly exhibit their properties’ features, consequently attracting a wider and more diverse range of potential investors.
Meanwhile, Osama Saad El-Din, CEO of the Real Estate Development Chamber (REDC), underscores the chamber’s proactive support for real estate exhibitions in general, aiming to expand the marketing activities of developers’ offerings locally and internationally.
The Elite Exhibition
In a related context, real estate development expert Ashraf Dowidar pointed out that Cityscape stands as one of Egypt’s pivotal annual real estate exhibitions. However, there has been a recent transformation in the central role of these exhibitions. Rather than primarily serving as platforms for real estate sales, they have evolved into potent marketing instruments. Clients now participate to extensively examine the various offerings presented by developers and to delve into the array of facilities provided, enabling them to make well-informed decisions regarding their investments.
Additionally, Dowidar clarified that for the previous four years, the role of exhibitions has been mainly promotional only, given the popularity and diversity of real estate offerings, especially with the launch of new cities across the country.
Therefore, the contracts made at exhibitions primarily express the reservation’s seriousness, and transactions may take place after the exhibition ends, either with confirmation or a change in the investment destination. Nevertheless, Cityscape remains the number one exhibition for the elite in Egypt.
Participants Support Credibility
Regarding the reliability of the exhibition, Abdulmaged Jado mentioned that when a client intends to purchase a high-value item such as a property, it consumes a significant portion of their savings. Therefore, they explore various alternatives, learn about the returns and facilities obtained, and evaluate the reliability of the real estate development company they will contract with to guarantee meeting all the contract’s criteria.
They also consider the optimal use of spaces, the most cost-effective payment method; either longer payment periods or lower installment values. Thus, Cityscape offers visitors the luxury of exploring alternatives from different developers and spaces.
He revealed that Cityscape’s credibility is reinforced by its participants, exceeding 70 real estate developers, including industry leaders, as announced on the exhibition’s website. Moreover, the exhibition has been running for several years, surpassing twelve years, with a noticeable client and developer participation.
Pillars to Reinforce Sustainable Development
When asked about the discourse on real estate development during Cityscape, Jado remarked, “We are living in a time that demands the implementation of sustainable real estate development concepts, coinciding with the scarcity of natural resources. This presents an opportunity for reusing resources within the industry and urban communities, offering eco-friendly alternatives that minimize resource depletion and environmental pollution.”
Jado emphasized that sustainable development should be the foundation of current and future real estate projects for any real estate developer, whether governmental or private.
The real estate expert suggests the mechanisms for sustainable development in the sector, including the enhancement of the legislative environment for the industry. This could require developers to maximize space utilization, implement mechanisms for recycling natural resources, create green spaces based on well-thought-out conditions and standards, as well as promote energy rationalization and sustainable practices.
Jado mentioned that the second measure lies in the architectural concept of the real estate product, through optimizing space utilization relying on natural ventilation, and drawing inspiration from Egypt’s historic architectural heritage.
“The third pillar involves encouraging industry players to expand their involvement in the field by offering lands at lower prices or implementing attractive financing initiatives for companies that undertake projects aligned with sustainable development goals. The fourth pillar focuses on changing the recipients’ culture,” Jado added.
Development to Meet Real Estate Demand
Ashraf Dowidar explained that Egypt requires significant real estate development to meet the needs of its population, which exceeds 100 million people.
He explains the substantial demand for real estate, as the supply is consistently lower than the demand, and does not fit not all segments, but the most demanding ones. Therefore, Dowaidar calls on the government to focus on affordable and social housing projects that align with the purchasing power of different social segments.
Dowidar highlighted that the recent economic crises worldwide have reinforced the perception of real estate as a haven and a reliable means of protecting savings. Hence, it is crucial to ensure that the demand, whether for investment or residential purposes, corresponds to the price of the available units to sustain market demand.
He pointed out that accelerating real estate development can be supported by focusing on exports, which can contribute significantly to the industry’s growth. Exporting real estate would provide foreign currency liquidity that assists the government and developers in sustaining and expanding their activities.
However, to achieve this, the government must introduce greater facilitation and launch distinctive products that cater to foreign clients in terms of privacy, unit prices, and other attractive features, especially considering the current devaluation of the local currency.
In conclusion, many real estate investors eagerly anticipate the annual Cityscape exhibition to explore available opportunities and explore the real estate sector in terms of prices, and infrastructure development of offerings, In addition to targeting a wider range of customers.