The Banking Executive Magazine - March 2021

Egypt's New Mortgage EGYPT'S NEW MORTGAGE FINANCE SCHEME TO SPUR DEMAND FOR RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES The new mortgage finance pro- gramme with a 3 percent interest rate announced by the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) will help boost demand in Egypt’s residential property market and the wider economy, property consultancy JLL said. The new mortgage financing pro- gramme is directed at low and mid- dle-income Egyptians to support their ability to own housing units through long-term loans of up to 30 years with low interest that does not ex- ceed 3%. Ayman Sami, Country Head, JLL Egypt, said: “This initiative is the first of its kind in Egypt with such a low interest rate and the longest settle- ment duration that has ever been wit- nessed. The residential real estate market has been impacted by the lack of affordability which continued to put pressure on developers and buyers. Given Egypt has a large pop- ulation base and the majority of buy- ers are in the mid-to-low income bracket, this initiative will help boost demand in this sector and the wider economy. “The Egyptian government has been praised by international organiza- tions for the economic reforms that took place over the past couple of years, including managing to have positive growth during the COVID period. With real estate continuing to be a high contributor to the country’s GDP, we expect this move by the government to bring further positive results going forward.” the BANKING EXECUTIVE 32 ISSUE 147 MARCH 2021