For many years, Egyptian real estate has been very attractive to foreigners. There are several reasons for this:

Low starting cost of real estate;

Loyal tax in the field of real estate, including for foreigners;

• No inheritance and income tax;
• Relatively inexpensive property maintenance.
• Real estate on the Red sea is especially popular with foreigners.

Hurghada VS Sharm El Sheikh

Foreigners cannot take ownership for real estate located on the Sinai Peninsula due to the fact that it is still considered a disputed territory. That is why foreigners, buying real estate in Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab and other settlements of the Sinai Peninsula, in fact only acquire the right to lease real estate for 99 years with the right to extend and inherit.

Properties located in Hurghada and surrounding areas are sold with full ownership rights, which guarantees the protection of the owner rights.

Egyptian real estate construction technologies

One of the secrets of an attractive real estate price is rational construction technology.

Frame-monolithic construction, which has proven itself throughout the world, is used according to “green technology”. It minimizes the harmful impact on the environment and eliminates the irrational use of resources and materials for construction.

Frame-monolithic construction has certain advantages over other construction methods:

• This technology makes it possible to build houses with no height limits.
• The load on the foundation is distributed evenly, which means that the foundation can be lighter.
• Throughout the entire period of work, it is possible to maintain high speed of construction.
• Small shrinkage allows immediately after the completion of the main construction to begin the installation of windows and doors, as well as to carry out finishing work.
• This construction technology makes it possible to realize even the most daring architectural solutions, and the absence of load-bearing walls makes it easy to re-layout.
• Houses are durable and resistant to tremors.
• The weight of the building is almost half that of reinforced concrete slabs.
• The absence of reinforced beams between the columns allows you to achieve smooth ceilings.
• Construction does not require the use of heavy construction equipment and can take place even in densely populated areas.
• Minor disadvantages of frame-monolithic construction: the impossibility of carrying out work at low temperatures. In Egypt, with its year-round warmth, this disadvantage is reduced to nothing.

The unique climatic conditions of Egypt make it possible to lay out walls based on a solid frame of columns and half-brick ceilings. This is enough for the safety and comfort of the property, and also allows you to significantly reduce construction costs and the final price of the property.

Other secrets of low construction costs in Egypt

In Egypt, unskilled labor is still very cheap. The labor of skilled workers is valued at about twice, but cannot be compared with the salaries in Europe.

Building materials in Egypt also remain relatively cheap, although their cost has risen in the past few years. And the climate of the country allows you to significantly save on the amount of building materials compared to countries with a colder climate.

It is also worth considering that the real estate area (m2) in Egypt is considered differently than in many contries: it includes a balcony, part of the staircase, air shafts, internal partitions and walls. In fact, the real area of ​​housing is 15-25% less, because it is calculated along the outer perimeter of the walls. When buying a home, it is better to independently measure its real size.

Uptrend in real estate prices

The price bar for real estate and its maintenance in Egypt will rise under the influence of several factors:

The Egyptian government is changing the tax regime, and now many property owners will have to pay tax for the period from the beginning of 2013.

Construction companies began to pay more attention to the comfort of housing, in particular, installing elevators in houses, and modern double-glazed windows in apartments. All this leads to an increase in the cost of housing.

The Egyptian government is trying to transfer electricity consumers to new meters that operate on a prepaid card basis. In fact, you have to pay more for electricity with such meters.

Tariffs for water, electricity, gas are regularly raised.

Is it still possible to find inexpensive real estate in Egypt?

Good housing at an attractive price can still be found on the secondary real estate market.

In the relatively recent past, many people invested in real estate in Egypt, because it was very inexpensive.

In the current situation, they started to sell their properties in order to earn money on price changes, trying to make a deal as soon as possible, do not trade much. In such a situation, you can buy excellent housing, even with furniture and household appliances, at a very attractive price.

Despite the fact that new buildings tend to increase the cost of housing, however, construction companies often offer interesting installment plans that allow you to buy excellent housing on good terms.

Property tax in Egypt

Until 2008, only legal entities paid real estate tax. After that, a tax was established for individuals. In fact, the implementation of the law was constantly delayed. However, all property owners were required to complete the registration procedure at the tax authorities.

At the beginning of 2013, amendments were introduced to the law, which obligated to pay tax on all real estate. If initially the cost of housing was taken as the base, then according to the new rules, the amount of tax is calculated based on the rental value established by a special commission according to certain formulas. In fact, the amount of tax per year ranges on average from 500 to 2000 pounds per apartment.

Property that is used as a primary residence by the taxpayer and has a net annual rental value of less than LE 24,000 is exempt from tax. However, this does not exempt you from filing a tax papers.

For late filing of a tax return, indication of incorrect data, provision of fake documents and other attempts to evade taxes, as well as their late payment are punishable by various fines.