Real-estate-for-FX scheme revised: Real estate developers met with a number of government officials to discuss incentives for Egyptian expats and foreigners in Egypt who are willing to pay in foreign currency to purchase properties in Egypt from private-sector developers, according to a statement from the Housing Ministry.

Last we heard, the government is working to clone the expat car import initiative for real estate purchases.

What changed? The initiative could see the government refund 80% of the property price to the buyers in EGP over an 8-year period, Misr Italia’s Chairman Hany El Assal told Enterprise. This is less than the 100%-over-10-years initially proposed by industry players last month.

How it will work: The proposed initiative will see the Finance Ministry obtain 100% of the property price in foreign currency from the buyer before making a 50% downpayment to the developer on units slated for immediate delivery or to be delivered in three to six months, El Assal said. The ministry will pay the remainder in EGP installments over one to two years. Properties that take longer to deliver will have different installment plans.

Who will take care of the logistics of it all? A new company — dubbed Osool — will be in charge of managing the sales.

Other incentives: Under the initiative, buyers would have their units registered immediately after making the purchase, giving them full control over the property without having to wait until the developer is paid in full, El Assal told us. Moreover, foreigners taking part in the initiative will be offered residency- and citizenship-related incentives.

It’s all about bringing in more FX: The government approved in July a decision to remove thecap on the number of properties foreigners can own provided that they pay for the properties in hard currency. The loosening of restrictions was one of a basket of measures the cabinet enacted in a bid to ease the FX crunch.

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