Egypt grants foreigners the right to own real estate without a maximum limit

The government has amended the law governing the ownership of real estate for foreigners in Egypt, where it decided to allow foreigners to own real estate inside the country without complying with a specific number, pointing out that the state in the framework of facilitating the allocation of land to investors will work to speed up the registration of land to the investor who did not violate the existing conditions.
“Previously, the regulatory decisions stated that the maximum number of foreigners owning real estate is 2 in two different cities,” the head of government said.
He continued:” There is no specific number, any foreigner wants to own real estate inside Egypt, the number is open according to controls related to the payment of value in free currency, there are no restrictions in the number and foreigners have the right to own any number of properties.

What is the purpose of the decision?

It seems that the main goal of the recent ministerial decision is to attract hard currency and take advantage of the real estate wealth that the Egyptian government has worked on over the past years by building new cities and developing neighborhoods that already existed.
In televised remarks, Ambassador Nader Saad, a spokesman for the Council of Ministers, said that the decisions issued by the Supreme Investment Council include facilitating the ownership of real estate by foreigners.

What does the current law say about the ownership of foreigners?

According to Law No. 230 of 1996 regulating the ownership of non-Egyptians of built real estate and land, the right of ownership is one of the rights in which the status of a foreigner differs from that of a citizen.
According to the provisions of the law, a foreigner has the right to own at most two properties throughout the Republic for the purpose of private housing for himself and his family, without prejudice to the right to own the properties necessary to practice the private activity licensed by the competent Egyptian authorities.
The law stipulates that the area of each property should not exceed four thousand square meters, and it is prohibited that the property is one of the properties considered an impact in the Antiquities Protection Law.
The law pointed out that the prime minister has an exception from the two conditions contained in the first and second items in the cases he estimates, and the Council of Ministers may establish conditions and rules for ownership in tourist areas and urban communities determined by him.
According to the spokesman of the Council of Ministers, some of the current decisions need legislative amendments in the investment law and other laws, stressing, “We are heading immediately to the House of Representatives, and we hope that it will adopt these amendments to increase the volume of investments in Egypt.