As Africa celebrates its position as the world’s second largest destination for global foreign investment,Egypt is witnessing a surge in interest from international developers and investors looking to benefit from real estate opportunities with medium to long term capital growth and resale potential.
The fifth edition of Cityscape Egypt, the country’s largest property event is still two months away from opening its doors,yet almost 20 per cent of exhibitors are from outside Egypt – a figure that has already doubled since the 2014 event. Taking place on 16 – 19 September 2015 at the Cairo International Convention Centre, the exhibition is now in its strongest position since launching back in 2010, announcing 23 per cent overall growth since 2014 and a significant influx of participants from the UAE in particular.
Ayman Sami, Country Head at the investment management giant JLL Egypt and forthcoming exhibitor at Cityscape Egypt is confident in the growth path that Egypt is following, and sees other verticals heading in the same direction.
“The primary residential real estate market in Egypt remained strong throughout the past three years with some developments witnessing a 30 per cent YOY increase in selling prices. As confidence returns to the market we are now seeing that Hotels, Retail and Offices are beginning to follow suit.
The Egyptian market has strong fundamentals and property ownership is part of each and every household’s culture, partially due to the fact that it has historically outperformed many other types of Capital investments making it a primary driver for the continuous strong demand.”
With 17.1 per cent of global foreign investment driven solely into African 2014, the progressive continent now sits comfortably as the second largest global region for FDI after Asia Pacific. With a wave of government reforms in place and the positive effects of this year’s Egypt Economic Summit supporting its advancement, Egypt itself continues to attract large-scale investments from the GCC – particularly the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Real estate, hospitality and construction comprise the largest share of foreign direct investment overall, with major drivers including an ambitious project that will add capacity to Cairo’s metro system, the large-scale construction of essential new port facilities and the high profile expansion of the Suez Canal. In line with overseas interest in real estate as a whole, Cityscape Egypt participants from the UAE tripled last year, while GCC visitors represented an increase of 40 per cent – testament to both the activity and confidence that is resurging in the Egyptian economies.
Ian Albert, Regional Director of Colliers International the Associate Conference Sponsor of the event explains “With confidence in the economy returning, the largest population in the Arab world, demand for housing remaining high at all income levels and tourism growing again, Cityscape Egypt provides ideal knowledge exchange and networking. Following our appointment as advisors on a number of projects, we are seeing Egypt’s potential first-hand and look forward to interacting with key figures from government and business alike at this year’s event.”
Among the new and returning exhibitors this year is a flurry of blue chip international property companies including Azizi Developments, Landmark Leisure and Qatari Diarand JLL. Regular participants include the likes of Emaar Misr, Palm Hills, Talaat Mostafa Group and Al Ahly for Real Estate. Gold Sponsor of the 2015 event is Taamir for Mortgage Finance Co. Aloula.
Cityscape’s exhibitions, conferences and seminars are the leading events that bring together key industry decision makers, international investors, developers, government and investment authorities, leading architects, designers, and consultants active in the design and construction of real estate.
For more information, or to register as a visitor please visit – www.cityscapeegypt.com
About Cityscape:
Cityscape is owned by Informa, one of the world’s leading knowledge providers in the form of publishing, events, training, market intelligence and academic expertise. Informa consists of around 6,000 employees working in 150 offices in over 40 countries.
Cityscape first took place in 2002 in Dubai and since then, it has grown to be the largest real estate event brand globally, with events taking place across the GCC, Middle East, Asia, Turkey and USA. Since its launch, Cityscape has welcomed over 500,000 real estate professionals and investors from over 160 countries.
Cityscape’s portfolio of global exhibitions, conferences, seminars and business breakfasts brings together a large cross-section of real estate professionals including international investors, developers, government and investment authorities, architects, designers, consultants and many others involved in the design and construction of real estate.
