Egypt’s real estate developers discussed new technologies to boost sales, namely the digitalisation of the local property market as a means of regulating the market, in a press conference last week.

Alaa Fekri, the member of the Real Estate Investment Division at Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce and Chairperson of Beta Egypt, highlighted the importance of databases and information for the development of the real estate market, and noted that the lack of data and information is one of the biggest obstacles facing foreign investor inside Egypt.

Fekri said that there is great competition with other countries that rely on a large database and provide it to foreign investors, which greatly facilitates and attracts investment operations, pointed out that the session discussed forms of dealing with the market, entering hard currency into Egypt and exporting real estate.

Secretary General of the Egyptian Real Estate Council Walid Mokhtar said that there should be special and accurate data and information about the volume of demand for real estate in Egyptian market and benefit from them in conducting feasibility studies based on sound and solid foundations to enable real estate companies to produce accurate results about the real estate market.

Mokhtar called for the availability of information and data about the real estate prices in the market as well as the commissions of marketers, as well as the available opportunities and the size of offerings and the required.

He added that there must be online information and specific and accurate data about New Urban Communities Authority’s controls for real estate development companies. As well as, the importance of having regular monitoring devices within the authority for the performance of the sector and companies, as well as making all this information available on the authority’s website with information about the size of development and the size of required units and types of demand.

Mokhtar pointed out that problems related to the unification of real estate-related information issuers must be solved.

He recommended searching for stakeholders and international marketers to open new markets with the expertise they have and benefit from them in presenting local real estate products in a better way.

Mohamed El-Taher, CEO of the Saudi Egyptian Company for Development, highlighted the need to digitise procedures for registering real estate units and lands, as well as primary contracts to facilitate the export and sale of real estate units.

El-Taher said that traditional registration methods will completely disappear, and the blockchain technology will spread widely, and it is considered real digitisation during the current period, and it will also be the technology used during the coming period, especially in the registration and sale operations, in order to attract investors to buy property, commenting, “Capital is cowardly and looking for safe and stable investment.”

El-Taher demanded the establishment of a strong database that includes the origin, identity, and history of property to ensure ease of registration and identification of its owners on the various phases and what the property has gone through. This will be done through a strong technology system based on a strong technological infrastructure to facilitate disigalisation of property registration systems.

He further suggested the establishment of a specialised body in the transfer of real estate ownership in Egypt, based on digitisation and technological development, in order to facilitate the transfer of ownership of a property with a known identity.

Tarek Elgamal, founder and Chairperson of Redcon Construction, said that free zones for value-added services should be established that would contribute to providing technological and informational services to real estate development companies and help them develop their projects on the latest international systems, which would contribute to increasing the export of real estate and expanding investment in it.

Elgamal highlighted the importance of catching up with global technological progress so that the market is not separated from the world, which will attract foreign customers to increase property export.

Hany Mahmoud, former Minister of Communications and Chairperson of Vodafone Egypt, said that the real estate sector is one of the sectors that benefit least from information technology and global technological development, noting that reliance on information technology is no longer a luxury, but has become a necessity for the advancement of any sector.

Mahmoud stressed the importance of providing databases with all information on various investment and commercial sectors, which will attract investments and help the government and companies make right decisions.

He highlighted the experience of Estonia in the mechanization of real estate and the importance of benefiting from it, as it provides a detailed map of real estate in the country, and allows buyers to know all information and the sequence of ownership of required property.

He stressed the importance of facilitating real estate registration procedures for foreigners, starting with new cities and New Administrative Capital, and contributing to the legalisation of conditions.

Mahmoud called on the Ministry of Housing to establish a window for real estate developer companies that provides a database that includes all projects and lands available for the advancement of the real estate sector.

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