Trend: house prices up 4.51% y-o-y in Q2 2018

Egypt’s house prices rose by a healthy 4.51% during the year to Q2 2018, in sharp contrast with a y-o-y decline of 5.32% in Q2 2017. Nominal house prices were actually skyrocketing, rising by 19.54% over the same period. But this is mainly due to the extraordinarily high inflation caused by floating the currency in November 2016. 

However on a quarterly basis, real house prices dropped 9.91% during the latest quarter.  Egyptian property price figures tend to be highly volatile, which may be related to the quality of the numbers.

In July 2018, the headline inflation stood at 13.5%, sharply down from 33% in the same period last year, according to the Central Bank of Egypt. 

Analysis: a property boom will continue. 

Egypt’s housing market is widely expected to continue rising in value in coming years. Why?  Because inflation is eating up a large portion of Egyptians' savings every year. So Egypt's moneyed classes are buying property like there is no tomorrow. Especially as it is hard to get money out of the country. And there are excellent rental yields in Cairo.

Rents, rental yields: excellent yields in Cairo at 9.40% 

Cairo apartments are inexpensive at around $831 per sq. m. 

Egypt: city centre apartment, buying price, monthly rent (120 sq. m)
	Buying price	Rate per month	Yield
Cairo	$ 124,650	$ 977	9.40%

Recent news.  President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi recently removed the last restrictions on foreign ownership of land and property in Egypt. He also allowed the government, the biggest landowner in Egypt, to use its land for public-private partnership schemes.

Egypt’s economy grew by 5.4% in Q2 2018 from a year earlier, from y-o-y expansions of 5.4% in Q1 2018, 5.3% in Q4 2017, 5.2% in Q3 2017, 5% in Q2 2017 and 4.3% in Q1 2017. The economy is expected to grow strongly by 5.2% this year, the fastest pace in a decade, according to the IMF.