Egyptian real estate companies are postponing the sale of residential units amid the uncertainty surrounding the exchange rate of the Egyptian pound (EGP), Invest-Gate reports.

Real estate developers in Egypt have decided to delay the launch of new phases of their housing projects until the exchange rate stabilizes and the prices of construction materials in the country become clearer.

According to sector officials, this will allow them to reprice their units in light of the daily increases in building material costs.

Moreover, the price of reinforced steel in Egypt has surged by over 85% annually, reaching more than EGP 60,000 per ton in January. This spike is driven by the pressures of a hard currency shortage and a significant decline in the production capacity of factories, officials report.

Furthermore, Sameh Hammouda, CEO of Heliopolis Company for Housing and Development, told Asharq News that his company has postponed the launch of 460 residential units in the new city of Heliopolis until pricing clarity is achieved.

Hammouda emphasized that while they have a previously executed real estate inventory, the successive market developments make determining pricing for these units challenging.

Also, Egypt is grappling with a challenging economic crisis exacerbated by geopolitical tensions in the region and severe liquidity shortage due to declining remittances from expatriates, tourism revenues, Suez Canal income, and exports.

For his part, Mohamed Samy, VP of Sales at Coldwell Banker Egypt, notes that real estate development companies are struggling to set prices due to consecutive increases in exchange rates and construction material costs. This has led many developers to postpone sales until pricing clarity is achieved.

Notably, the official exchange rate is 30.9 EGP per $1 in banks, while the black-market rate exceeds EGP 70 per $1.