EGYPT. Egypt's real estate market activity is increasing at the rate of 40%, according to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, who expects more growth in the market in the coming months. Property is increasingly open to foreign investors and tourists.

Speaking at the opening of the fifth Inter Build conference and exhibition in Cairo last week, Prime Minister Nazif said that also the building industry has seen a boom with year-on-year growth currently at 15%.

"Under a new building law, owners of apartment buildings will be forced to carry out maintenance works and consequently promote building maintenance services," the Prime Minister announced.

The new law, meant to regulate construction, demolition and maintenance works of buildings in urban and rural areas, would certainly have positive effects on the building market, Nazif added.

Also for foreign investors, Egypt's property market has been rapidly opening up. The introduction of mortgage facilities for foreigners is now imminent, and there are no domestic inheritance or capital gains taxes for foreigners engaged in Egyptian properties.

The boom in the Egyptian property market follows a liberalisation in investment and property laws, but is also a major consequence of Egypt's steady growth as a tourist destination.

Especially the country's newly built Red Sea resorts, with relatively short flights from Europe and pleasant temperatures all year round, have attracted an ever-growing stream of tourist-related real estate and other construction projects.

As properties in classic holiday resorts such as Spain and France have turned expensive, the market has turned to new countries such as Turkey, which has been flooded by property buyers for years. But as also Turkey grows more expensive and the best properties are grabbed, European attention is now also directed towards Egypt, Morocco and Cape Verde.

However, the real estate markets in all these three countries still are in an emerging phase, representing some risks for buyers. Many serious property agents in Europe are now marketing Egyptian properties aggressively, often exaggerating the "certain boom to come" and the security of the investment. 

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