Starlight Developments announces its commitment to invest around EGP 10 bn in the Egyptian real estate market over the next three years.

The real estate industry used to be straightforward, with a traditional business model where you could secure a piece of land, hire a reputable architect to make plans, then a contractor who would open up a site office, with the sales process maintaining itself.

The real estate sector seemed always a bit conservative, mostly unresponsive to innovation. Just a couple of years back, not many countries had a digital public ledger of properties. With time, digital solutions are firmly taking bit by bit over in the property business; not to mention the rise off the pandemic COVID-19 has ensued need for social distancing, cleanliness, and minimal contact, and changed technology’s role from nice-to-have into a must-have.

In Egypt, after weeks of self-isolation and social distancing, especially across its vital revenue-generating industries, namely real estate, new business models have developed and marketing strategies have been modified to combat the virus outbreak, to overcome its aftermath, and “get the wheel running” as they say. In addition, work has resumed, especially where governmental projects are concerned, to meet the scheduled deadlines, while prioritizing the safety of workers involved. Invest-Gate meets up with a number of Egypt’s currently active players across the private sector to get their insights on the market and how this global crisis affected their businesses, while reflecting on the strategies they have adopted to overcome this unprecedented time.

Against this backdrop, Invest-Gate draws reference lines on the indicators and reasons for a possible liquidity pothole across the local real estate sector. Better yet, we betoken ways of securing high reserves and evading the surge in cash outflows, ergo creating an ultra-leveraged business growth model for developers.

While it is impossible to predict the market's exact direction during the upcoming period, Invest-Gate asks several senior property professionals to look into their crystal ball, thereby taking a deep dive into a pool of forecasts for 2020, as well as, scrutinizing the latest real estate trends and data. We also seek answers to the million-dollar question that will perhaps influence the local investors’ future plans: "How will the housing market shake out next year?"

Invest-Gate sits with President of ICA Ariel Guarco to discuss the alliance’s vision, while also sharing his insights on the housing coops as an economic and social solution to informal settlements and vagrancy. Guarco also sheds light on Egypt’s efforts in the cooperative movement, with a special focus on the housing sector.

The Central Bank of Egypt's (CBE) long-awaited initiative offers mortgage loans at lower interest rates and longer payment terms. This comes at a time when the real estate sector is experiencing a slowdown due to the increased property prices, coupled with weak consumer purchasing power. So, the question here: Will mortgages keep the wolf from the door?

Real estate funds help create growth in the property market by driving the “institutional” type of activity on the buy side, in addition to offering fund investors the opportunity to diversify their project portfolio and enter the commercial/retail market at a fraction of the whole asset ticket prices.

Most dealers focusing their bets on real estate assets have always been craving for hassle-free exposure to the property sector. Over the years, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have evolved to be one of the fine-tuned tactics to stimulate penetration into the market without the worry of ongoing maintenance, management tasks, and ever-changing policies.