Invest-Gate Releases Recommendations for Best Ways to Tap into the Investment Potential of Egypt’s Real Estate Sector

Invest-Gate has concluded its first roundtable discussion in 2024, the twenty-first in its series of events, on Wednesday, February 14th, discussing the best ways to leverage the immense investment potential of the Egyptian real estate sector.

The roundtable addressed real estate investment tools, various financing strategies, and the supportive role of the Egyptian Stock Exchange in the real estate market.

Eng. Fathallah Fawzy, Vice Chairman of the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association (EBA) and Chairman of the Real Estate Development and Contracting Committee moderated the roundtable discussions.

The event hosted a group of prominent real estate experts, senior officials, and executives, including Mr. Mohamed Selim, Head of the Research Department at the Egyptian Exchange; Mr. Amr Elhamy, CEO of TSFE Tourism, Real Estate & Antiquities Subfund; Eng. Hisham Shoukry, Chairman of the Real Estate Export Council; Eng. Abdallah Sallam, President and CEO of Madinet Masr; Eng. Ahmed Ehab, CEO of Madaar Development; Dr. Hashem El Sayed, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of ODIN Investments & Executive Chairman of Egyptians Real Estate Fund; and Mr. Ahmed Abdallah, Vice Chairman of REDCON Properties.

Also in attendance were Mr. Ayman El Sawy, CEO of Rawasi Holding; Eng. Emad El-Nattar, Group CEO and Managing Director of Namaa PFM; Eng. Mohamed Adel, CEO of Roya Developments; Mr. Nader Khozam, Chairman and CEO of IL CAZAR Developments; Mr. Mohamed Elwy, CEO of Homeberry; Eng. Moaaz Wessam, CEO of W’s – Dubleuse; Dr. Raymond Ahdy, CEO of Wadi Degla Developments; Mr. Omar El-Tayebi, CEO of TLD – The Land Developers; Eng. Mohamed Eslam, Managing Director of EBNY Developments; Mr. Ayman Abdel Hameed, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Tameer for Mortgage Finance (Al Oula); Ms. Maha Abdel Razek, CEO of Misr Real Estate Assets Management; and Dr. Nour El-Deen El-Serougy, CEO and Founding Partner of HRE Properties Egypt.

Most of the participating experts agreed on the following recommendations:

1. The importance of collaboration between the private sector and the government as well as expanding hotel and tourism properties
2. Accelerating the implementation of real estate national identification/codification to formalize the real estate market in Egypt in a way that attracts foreign investments
3. Increasing communications with Egyptian communities across the globe to market local properties, rather than focusing solely on Egyptians in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries
4. Emphasizing the vital role of real estate funds, both closed- and open-ended, in securing the required funding for the real estate industry.
5. Developers must take serious steps to meet green urbanisation requirements to achieve sustainability, attract investments into the real estate sector, and boost real estate exports.
6. Accelerating procedures for establishing the real estate exchange in Egypt while providing better information about it to acquaint clients and developers with its importance.
7. Listing more real estate development companies on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) and applying governance standards, including separation of ownership and management to ensure transparency for investors in these companies.
8. Reviewing tourism development regulations concerning the mandatory quota for hotel rooms in real estate projects on the Red Sea.
9. Establishing trust between the state, developers, clients, and foreign investors.
10. Ensuring the provision of sufficient parking areas in real estate projects implemented in new communities.

The sponsors of the roundtable were Madinet Masr, Madaar Development, Namaa PFM, Roya Developments, IL CAZAR Developments, Beltone Mortgage Finance, W’s – Dubleuse, Wadi Degla Developments, TLD – The Land Developers, EBNY Developments, and Misr Real Estate Assets Management. Media partners included Aleqaria, Al-Borsa newspaper, Daily News Egypt, Al-Gedaan Real Estate, Elly Bana Misr program, Aqarmap, Osoul Misr magazine, Bloom portal, Property Plus, Al-Bawaba Al-Aqaria website, Aqar Masr program, and Safqa.