Selling property in Egypt in 2026: how the market has changed for sellers

From a seller's market to a slower one

Between 2023 and 2025, buyers used property to protect their savings, and prices rose fast. JLL measured sale prices up 22.6% a year in 6th of October and 18.5% in New Cairo in the third quarter of 2025, and the Association of Real Estate Developers (arD) said residential prices rose 20% to 30% over 2025.

In 2026 the pace has slowed sharply. Prices are still rising in pounds, but slower than urban inflation, which was 13.9% in September 2026.

The Q2 2026 sale-price figures compare with the previous quarter, so they can't be set directly against the annual rows. Comparing like with like, annual resale price growth fell from about 18% to 23% in Q3 2025 to about 3% to 5% in Q1 2026.

According to The Board Consulting, the top 10 developers sold about 15,500 units in the first quarter of 2026, 15% fewer than a year earlier, and their sales value fell 6.5% to about EGP 271 billion. In the first half of 2026, their sales value rose slightly only because prices were higher; they sold fewer units.

Resale is where the slowdown shows most

JLL described resale activity as "subdued" in the third quarter of 2025, with sellers adjusting their asking prices "at a more measured level" that buyers could reach through negotiation. In the first quarter of 2026 it put resale price growth in single digits and said pressure on purchasing power had slowed sales.

Industry leaders disagree on how deep the slowdown goes:

• One broker's estimate. In January 2026, Abdelrahman Abu Zeid, a senior sales manager at the brokerage Tasken (part of Nawy), told Daily News Egypt that resale deals in newly developed projects had fallen at least 70% year on year. That's one broker's estimate, not measured data.
• A slowdown, felt most in resale. In September 2026, Naguib Sawiris said in an interview that property sales had slowed, with more buyers defaulting and more units being assigned to new buyers, and that the drop was clearest in ready units offered for resale. He said this did not necessarily mean a bubble.
• No crisis for developers. Also in September 2026, Hisham Talaat Moustafa cited a collection rate of about 99.6% at the top 10 developers as evidence they are not defaulting, and blamed the resale surplus on speculative buying in 2023 and 2024.

Either way, buyers have more choice and more time than two years ago, and some homes competing with yours belong to investors who bought in 2023 and 2024 and now want out.

Why resale competes with 12-year plans

Your real competitor is often not the home next door but a new unit from a developer. Some major developers now offer instalment plans of 12 years or more. Resale sellers usually want the full price in cash, which makes resale harder to choose for a buyer who could spread the cost instead. Some units bought during the 2023 to 2024 currency swings are now priced above the developers' own new launches.

Developers also use "dual pricing": a discount for paying quickly, or the full list price spread over a long plan. The long plan has a cost. One developer in 6th of October said in August 2026 that a 10-year plan can double a unit's price, once interest and hedging costs are built in.

Mortgages don't close the gap: new mortgage customers fell more than 21% year on year in Q1 2026. Our guide to off-plan or resale shows how buyers weigh the two.

What buyers want now

In August 2025, Fathallah Fawzy of the Egyptian Businessmen's Association said speculators had left the market and that buyers were mostly Egyptians abroad or people buying a home to live in. Buyers tend to look for four things:

• Ready homes. Developers quoted in 2025 said most resale units are in completed projects, where limited supply supports prices, while resale of units in projects not yet built suffers because buyers fear late delivery.
• Clean papers. Complicated ownership-transfer procedures put buyers off. A registered title or a complete contract chain removes the doubt.
• Sensible prices. Budgets are stretched. In a 2026 Savills survey, nearly half of respondents earning up to EGP 200,000 a month capped their budget at EGP 10 million. On Aqar Exit, a platform for selling off-plan contracts, units under EGP 3 million drew about 11 purchase requests each, against about 2 for units above EGP 20 million, by the platform's own October 2026 figures.
• Flexibility. Buyers who are used to developer plans will ask about terms: a larger down payment and a short schedule can widen your pool of buyers.

What has not changed

• Costs still put a floor under new prices. CAPMAS data for May 2026 showed cement up 26.2% and sand up 37.4% year on year. New launches are priced from those costs, and they set the reference point buyers compare you with.
• Rents are still rising. JLL put rent growth at about 7% year on year in New Cairo and 6th of October in the second quarter of 2026, slower than before but still positive. If you don't need the cash now, renting remains an option to weigh.
• Forecasts are higher than measured prices. arD said in January 2026 that it expected prices to rise 8% to 12% in 2026, while JLL measured resale price growth of 3.1% to 5.4% in the year to Q1 2026. Forecasts often follow developers' list prices, while JLL tracks the wider market, so check which one you're reading.
• Your selling costs. You still pay the 2.5% disposal tax on the full price, now within 60 days. See taxes and fees when you sell.

What this means for your price and timing

Feinh doesn't predict prices. What you control is how your home compares with the alternatives on the day a buyer sees it.

1. Price for 2026, not 2024. Start from what similar homes have recently sold for, not from asking prices set when the market was rising fast. Our guide on how to price your property walks through it step by step.
2. Check the developer's cash price. If a new unit nearby costs less in cash than your older one, buyers will see it before you do.
3. Leave modest room to negotiate, keeping your asking price within reach of what buyers will offer, and decide your lowest acceptable price before the first offer.
4. Sell your advantages. Put "ready now", clean papers and one known price in the first line of your listing.
5. Match your timing to your need. If you must sell within months, price for today's market. If you don't, compare what the home would earn as a rental with what you'd do with the cash.

For practical steps that shorten the time on market, read how to sell your home faster in Cairo and Giza. When you're ready, ask up to three local agents for a free valuation.