Egypt moves to tighten real estate regulation with project accounts and delivery safeguards
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Egypt's housing minister has outlined a regulatory framework covering developer licensing, separate bank accounts for each project and protections for buyers when delivery slips by more than a year.
Egypt is working towards a comprehensive regulatory framework governing relations between the state and real estate developers, Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities Randa El-Menshawy said, noting that discussions on establishing a developers' union began in 2018 before widening into broader efforts to organise the market.
Under the approach she described, developers that fail to complete their projects or meet contractual obligations would not be treated as qualified real estate developers. Companies that do not honour existing commitments would not receive new ministerial approvals, licences or permits for additional projects, tying future expansion to performance on developments already under way.
The proposed measures include opening a separate bank account for each project, dividing developments into implementation phases with defined schedules, and prohibiting the advertising or sale of units before the required approvals and permits are obtained. On delayed deliveries, the minister said delays exceeding 12 months would require instalments to be deferred until delivery, subject to applicable regulations, while any extension of a handover date would have to be documented in a contractual addendum setting out the additional period and the revised date.
El-Menshawy said the market continued to benefit from population growth, household formation and domestic and foreign investment demand, citing growth of about 319% in the sector between 2018 and 2025. Sales by Egypt's ten largest developers reached around EGP 670bn in the first half of 2026, compared with EGP 651bn a year earlier, a rise of 2.9%, with the North Coast accounting for roughly 33% of those sales, valued at about EGP 221bn.
The government is also considering involving private developers in the construction of 100,000 social housing units, with incentives being studied to encourage homes for low- and middle-income households. Industry figures at the forum raised related concerns: Mamdouh Badr El-Din, chairperson of Badr El-Din Companies, called for clearer rules on marketing and brokerage, while Mohamed Khaled El Assal of Misr Italia Properties urged a reliable database covering available units, demand, sales and construction progress.
Speakers differed over how tightly the market should be regulated. Amr Badr El-Din of Arkan Palm Development and Mahmoud El-Gammal of G Developments both argued that price increases driven by development costs should be distinguished from speculation, and warned against loose use of the term bubble, while Abdallah Sallam of Madinet Masr said regulation should extend to banks and mortgage finance institutions. The main proposals that emerged included clearer licensing standards, rules for marketing and shared-sales arrangements, better market data, stronger maintenance-deposit collection, improved financing access and incentives for affordable housing.