By the numbers: Egypt’s real estate developments in FY 2021-2022: Egypt saw some 246.1k residential units built across the country during FY 2021-2022, according to state census bureau CAPMAS. These units include projects from private sector players, as well as the government and other public sector entities, including social housing projects, CAPMAS said in its housing bulletin for the fiscal year. Total investments in these developments reached EGP 143.5 bn, down a slim 4% y-o-y, the bulletin says. CAPMAS does not specify how much each of the public and private sectors invested during the fiscal year.

REMEMBER- The real estate industry has been having a tough time with lots of macroeconomic headwinds over the past couple of years, particularly following the start of the war in Ukraine. Infrastructure players in Egypt have been squeezed by rising raw and building material prices, higher borrowing costs, and the devaluation of the EGP. In 2022, some 10-20% of real estate developers reported halting their construction projects at some point during the year due to fiscal and logistical pressures, while some indicated they sold off projects before starting construction.

The private sector was responsible for a little under half of the units built during the fiscal year: Private sector players built 115.4k residential units during the fiscal year, accounting for 46.9% of all units completed. That’s a 32% y-o-y drop compared to the previous fiscal year’s units.

But the public sector took up the majority of the development work: Some 53.1% of all units (130.7 units) built in FY 2021-22 were developed by the government or public sector, according to the CAPMAS report. Although the government and public sector took the lion’s share of FY 2021-22 housing construction, the number of units they delivered during the fiscal year was down 21.5% compared to the previous fiscal year.

That explains why affordable housing accounted for the biggest portion of developments: Some 56.8% of all housing units built during the fiscal year were affordable housing, followed by middle-income units, which accounted for 28.4% of units constructed in FY 2021-2022. Luxury housing came in third with a 9.2% share, while upper-middle-income housing had the smallest share (5.6%). Affordable housing accounted for 74.5% of construction projects from the government and public sector, followed by luxury housing (12.9%).

For the private sector, middle-income housing was the biggest segment, accounting for 46.3% of the units private businesses constructed in FY 2021-22. Affordable housing came in second with a 36.8% share of private construction activity, followed by upper-middle-income housing (11.9%), while luxury units came in last with a 5% share.

In terms of the geographical distribution of real estate development, Cairo (unsurprisingly) took the lion’s share: Around 38% of all housing units constructed by the government and public sector during the fiscal year were in Cairo, followed by Giza (17.8%). Ismailia had the smallest share, with Ismailia trailing in last spot with a meager 0.2% share. For the private sector, Cairo was again in the top spot with 23% of private companies’ developments in FY 2021-22 concentrated in the capital city. Coming in second was Sharqia, which accounted for 13.1% of private sector developments, while Port Said had the smallest share (0.2%) of private sector developments during the fiscal year.

Meanwhile, the government has been pushing forward with developing informal settlements: Between 2010 and 2021, the government completed 70 projects to develop slum areas and informal settlements. Over those 11 years, the Informal Settlements Development Fund (ISDF) oversaw the building of 89.4k residential units and 2.5k commercial units worth EGP 40.3 bn, according to the CAPMAS bulletin. These developments were concentrated in Cairo, which accounted for around 48% of the units completed over the 11 years, followed by Alexandria (34%), while just 0.2% of these units were built in Ismailia, which had the lowest number of developments, according to CAPMAS. This construction push came as the government has been working to develop informal settlements across the country.

The finances: The government’s FY 2021-22 budget earmarked EGP 50 bn for social housing developments, including building 390k homes and developing 3.9k feddans in unplanned and informal settlements.

Your top infrastructure stories for the week:

  • The government may have to curb the pace of large-scale infrastructure projects amid macroeconomic instability, IMF boss Kristalina Georgieva told reporters.
  • Elsewedy Electric and major Qatari contractor UCC Holding have signed an EPC contract with the Libyan General Electricity Company (GECOL) to build a 1.0k MW power plant in Libya.
  • Joint Egyptian-Greek energy projects including the GREGY electricity interconnector topped the agenda in talks between Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Greece’s prime minister in Athens.
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