In the pursuit of Excellence, Propertyfinder.eg – Egypt’s #1 Real Estate Portal – hosted an event in Dusit Thani Lakeview Cairo on the 10th of May, 2018 in the presence of Property Finder Group CXOs – Michael Lahyani CEO, Lukman Hajje CCO, Simon Comina CFO, Hamza Chaoui CMO, Paul Stewart-Smith COO along with Mohammed Hammad – Propertyfinder.eg’s Managing Director – with the purpose of engaging with the top real estate professionals in the Egyptian Market, who are also a fine selection of PFE’s clients including RE/MAX Al Mohager, Egypt Best Properties, BYOTAT, RMG Real Estate, New Avenue Real Estate, Sedra Real Estate, RE/MAX 22, ERA Real Estate Egypt and many more.
Board’s Words about Property Finder Group
Michael Lahyani, the Chief Executive Officer of Propertyfinder Group, started the speech with Propertyfinder’s journey in Dubai in 2007 and its expansion across 8 markets in the Mena Region “Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia” and Turkey. He discussed how the company’s business model “dealing with listed professional real estate companies only” has served its users greatly, providing the best quality with the guarantee of a safe and reliable service. Micheal added that board is inspired by the big market in Egypt despite the challenges it has been facing after the revolution and emphasised on the board’s intention to continue investing in Egypt’s market and its team to keep on delivering more value for its users.
Next, Mohamed Hammad – PFE’s Managing Director presented the numbers showcasing the market’s growth and where it is heading providing the following data:
From Good to Great
The Board’s Discussion with The Clients
After introducing Propertyfinder, its accomplishments and growth year by year, Paul Stewart-Smith, the Chief Operating Officer of Propertyfinder Group described to the brokers how they can better present their listings and stay on the number 1 Page while explaining the company’s SEO efforts. He also discussed methods to provide quality listings and content that people are looking for. Then, he started a discussion about the
Real Estate Egyptian market in 2018.
Discussion Points and Conclusions
The attendees had an open forum to get better insights into the market. A question about the pulses that affect the Egyptian Market in 2018 was raised and an important pulse was suggested by Mohamed Gwaid, The CEO of Egypt Best Properties represented in Bank Interest rate vs return on Real Estate investment.
As Gwaid stated: “The currency devaluation affected the market, the banks and the financial sector introduced high interest rate on investment which is ending very soon and we are expecting high liquidity to hit the market in the next couple of months, talking about over 200 billions because the interest rate is now decreasing. we are expecting 40 or 50% of investments to go to the real estate market. We hit the rock bottom after the devaluation but right now we are rising and the market is growing”.
Another pulse was suggested presented in the wide development in different areas across Egypt. “I believe after what is happening in the economy, the banks are putting interest rates to 16 or 15.5 % , we hope it reaches 9 or 10% which is the right number to help liquidity and money to go in the market either in real estate or trading or whatever and this will take us up again so now the country is developing in different areas in North Coast, 6th of October City, New Capital City, New Cairo, Ain Sokhna and so on. This really gives us the chance to grow.
Another question was raised regarding the shift in Rental/Sale market in Egypt.
Gwaid noted: “Before 2007 the rental market was booming, Egypt was the place for huge amounts of multinational companies. But, from 2011 to 2013 the rental market went down due to the political and economical instability caused by the revolution. Now, foreign investments are coming back and existing markets are enlarging their business in egypt which means the rental market in Egypt is on its peak. Also the prices of owning homes went crazy so some egyptians can’t afford it and are willing to rent instead.”
Some assumptions regarding the behavior of Egyptian consumers were also discussed as follows:
Based on the Egyptian culture, 80 or 90% of Egyptians buy not rent which means there is demand for 10 to 20 Million rental units. So due to the large population in Egypt, the rental market is also a big market and will continue to increase due to the high divorce rate (around 40%). However, the culture differs according to age, the youth are more interested in rent while millennials are interested in owning properties.
Moreover, Egyptians hold on to their properties for a very long time (at least 10 years), which means that the typical Egyptian owns on average two homes (first home, second home / seaside home) while investors can own up to 10 homes.
Press Coverage
The event was also covered by journalists and media specialists from various journals and channels. They discussed the company’s business model and growth and the current status of the real estate market in Egypt.
Finally, Michael concluded that the market in the middle east is volatile and that they feel that the service they are offering is not present in the markets they choose to enter. So, in every market, they grow year on year.
To sum up, Propertyfinder’s event was indeed a breakthrough in the real estate industry. It successfully met its aims to discuss important shifts in the real estate market of Egypt while going the extra mile to find the needs of the clients and answering their questions. Also, they reached ways to seek more qualified leads to better serve clients along with applicable methods to provide a better experience for the user. Finally, Paul Stewart-Smith, the Chief Operating Officer of Propertyfinder Group, discussed the creation of a product that is relevant to the user while at the same time meets the clients’ demands.
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