Construction & Real Estate

The government’s push to stimulate the economy after a turbulent post-revolutionary period is good news for Egypt’s construction sector. Dozens of planned mega-projects and public works initiatives mean that the contracting industry is facing a sizeable project pipeline across all segments of the market. Large-scale plans for a new capital city and the expansion of the Suez Canal, coupled with rather more prosaic infrastructure upgrade requirements, promise a welcomingly busy few years for Egypt’s construction firms. As the problems facing material producers subside, it is expected that prices will also flatten out. Property is one of the few areas that has benefitted from the uncertainty and instability of post-revolutionary Egypt. As investors have become jittery and the government has introduced capital controls, money has flowed into real estate. It is unsurprising then that the sector has witnessed strong growth in 2014-15. However, the market is bifurcated, showing two distinct dynamics at opposite ends of the spectrum. Rising prices and increased supply in the upper end of the market combined with the apparently growing appetite for flipping properties could pose as an early warning sign of a bubble forming.

This chapter contains interviews with Hassan Allam, CEO, Hassan Allam Construction; Mohamed Mohsen Salah El Din, Chairman, The Arab Contractors; Magued Sherif, Managing Director, SODIC; and Tarek Abdel Rahman, Co-CEO, Palm Hills Developments.