Egypt
With a population of 78 million, Egypt is one of the most populous countries in the Middle East. It also has considerable tourist potential, from the majesty of the pyramids of Giza to the beauty of the Sinai Desert and the Red Sea resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada. Around 8 million people now visit the country every year (around 500,000 of them from Britain) and the numbers are increasing steadily.The country is also of interest to the foreign property investor: prices are rising fast, rental yields are good and the tax environment is extremely favourable, At the time of writing, mortgages were difficult to obtain and the rates unattractive. That is expected to change. In the meantime, a number of off-plan projects in resort areas aimed at foreigners offer payment by installment: typically, you will pay for the property in a series of quarterly payments over three years; the building will finished some time in the middle, meaning you advance the developer some money during the first few months, but they then effectively offer you an interest-free loan after completion.
Given the Egyptian government’s realisation of the importance of foreign investment and of the tourist industry, the future prospects for the property market look good. The only real question mark hanging over the country is political. Although one of the few countries in the region to hold elections, Egypt is not a democracy in the Western sense of the world and, as in Morocco, there are clear indications of simmering dissent, increasingly of a militant Islamic nature, below the surface. The country has also seen several terrorist outrages; the most recent, at the time of writing, was in July 2005, when 64 people, including several Britons, were killed in Sharm el-Sheikh by three bombs which exploded in a coordinated attack on hotels and shopping areas.
Sharm el-Sheikh and the Sinai
As recently as the early 1990s, Sharm el-Sheikh was little more than a small collection of hotels on the southern-most tip of the Sinai peninsula, of interest primarily to divers drawn by its crystal clear water, rare coral and incredible variety of exotic fish. In recent years it has developed into a large resort, catering not just for tourists but also for the international conference trade. Tony Blair likes to spend his winter holidays here. So, too, do many European, especially Italians, who have particularly taken to the place. Although some people find Sharm soulless, the climate is attractive and the diving is still good, despite continuing fears of the effects of excessive development on its famous coral.
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