Land/Real Estate: Law 15 of 1963 explicitly prohibits foreign individual or corporate ownership of agricultural land (defined as traditional agricultural land in the Nile Valley, Delta and Oases). Foreign individuals can own a maximum of two residences. Companies/citizens of other Arab countries have customarily received Egyptian-national treatment in this area.
References to an "Egyptian Real Estate Association" and an "Egyptian Mortgage Brokers Association" have been found, including one that lists Khaled Rasekh as the Chairman (http://www.aabfs.org/English/EnEventsMFSSpeakers.asp). However, little else has been found regarding these organizations.
The Egyptian legal system provides protection for real and personal property, but laws on real estate ownership are complex and titles to real property may be difficult to establish and trace. The Nazif government is moving to modernize laws on real estate ownership and tenancy. There are price controls on older residential and commercial real estate property resulting in apartment rents as low as $10 per month. These rent controls do not apply to real estate put into service in recent years. There are no restrictions on foreign ownership and rental of non-agricultural real estate in Egypt although specific procedures are required in some cases depending on the geographical location and building codes in different governorates.
Only about 10% of properties in Egypt are officially registered because of the cost and complexity of the registration process.
Mortgage Law 148 of 2001 provides the regulatory framework for issuance of mortgages by bank and non-bank institutions and regulates the securitization of mortgages with a potential for increasing trading activity in the stock market. Passed in June 2001 by the People’s Assembly , the law allows both banks and non-bank mortgage companies to issue mortgages and provides, for the first time under Egyptian law, clear procedures for foreclosure on property of defaulting debtors. In May 2002 Parliament approved amendments to the Banks and Credit Law that facilitated mortgage activities in banks and lowered property registration fees. Real estate registration fees were again lowered in 2003 and early 2004. The mortgage law established a General Authority for Real Estate Mortgage Affairs to regulate real estate mortgages in Egypt. Amendments to the existing Capital Market and Real Estate Mortgage laws passed in June 2004 allow the issuance of mortgage-backed securities. Two real estate finance companies were established in the first half of 2004 and one of the two companies has started issuing mortgages in the second quarter of 2004 but it is still too early to tell how well this law will allow an efficient mortgage market to operate in Egypt.
According to the law, the monthly instalment that the borrower is allowed to pay should not exceed 40 per cent of his income. The 14 per cent cost of finance that companies apply in the market make it impossible for a large sector of society to benefit from mortgage law.
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