Egypt is located in North Africa with the Sinai Peninsula, in southwestern Asia. Covering an area of about 1,001,450 square kilometers, Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west. Egypt is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East. The great majority of its estimated 75 million live near the banks of the Nile River, in an area of about 40,000 square kilometers, where the only arable agricultural land is found. The large areas of the Sahara Desert are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with the majority spread across the densely-populated centers of greater Cairo, Alexandria and other major cities in the Nile Delta.

Egypt is a significant oil producer and a rapidly growing natural gas producer. The country's first liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal began operation in January 2005. Suez Canal and Summed Pipeline are strategic routes for Persian Gulf oil shipments, making Egypt an important transit corridor.

With a growing economy and Forward thinking government policies and a solid infrastructure are making Egypt one of the next property and tourism key areas. With high capital returns of up to 25% per annum in key locations, the investment climate in Egypt is widely regarded as a very promising one.

International Hot property has Identified and researched property in Egypt and targeted the Red Sea resorts of Hurghada, Sahl Hasheesh and Sharm El Sheikh. Hurghada is the largest resort in the country with 35,000 inhabitants. Once a small fishing port on the western banks of the Red Sea, it’s become an exciting gateway to the two fastest growing sports on the planet - diving and golf. Facing directly onto the turquoise waters of the Red Sea, and wide sandy beaches lined with tropical sundowners, Hurghada is a sun worshipper’s paradise. Further south is Sahl Hasheesh, once known as the City of Isis. By 2014, this area will be transformed with no less than 20 hotels (one seven star), eight golf courses and a world class marina designed by Lord Norman Foster. High end retail centers and cinema complexes. Not surprisingly, property prices are soaring. The simplicity of sun, sea and sand. The luxury of five-star hotels, water sports, shopping and entertainment. This is Sharm el-Sheikh, one of the most accessible and developed tourist resorts.

WHY INVEST IN EGYPT PROPERTY?

Throughout Egypt, days are commonly warm or hot, and nights are cool. Egypt has only two seasons: a mild winter from November to April and a hot summer from May to October. The only differences between the seasons are variations in daytime temperatures and changes in prevailing winds. In the coastal regions, temperatures range between an average minimum of 14° C in winter and an average maximum of 30° C in summer.

Temperatures vary widely in the inland desert areas, especially in summer, when they may range from 7° C at night to 43° C during the day. During winter, temperatures in the desert fluctuate less dramatically, but they can be as low as 0° C at night and as high as 18° C during the day.

The average annual temperature increases moving southward from the Delta to the Sudanese border, where temperatures are similar to those of the open deserts to the east and west. In the north, the cooler temperatures of Alexandria during the summer have made the city a popular resort. Throughout the Delta and the northern Nile Valley, there are occasional winter cold spells accompanied by light frost and even snow. At Aswan, in the south, June temperatures can be as low as 10° C at night and as high as 41° C during the day when the sky is clear.
Egypt receives fewer than eighty millimeters of precipitation annually in most areas. Most rain falls along the coast, but even the wettest area, around Alexandria, receives only about 200 millimeters of precipitation per year. Alexandria has relatively high humidity, but sea breezes help keep the moisture down to a comfortable level. Moving southward, the amount of precipitation decreases suddenly. Cairo receives a little more than one centimeter of precipitation each year. The city, however, reports humidity as high as 77 percent during the summer. But during the rest of the year, humidity is low. The areas south of Cairo receive only traces of rainfall. Some areas will go years without rain and then experience sudden downpours that result in flash floods. Sinai receives somewhat more rainfall (about twelve centimeters annually in the north) than the other desert areas, and the region is dotted by numerous wells and oases, which support small population centers that formerly were focal points on trade routes. Water drainage toward the Mediterranean Sea from the main plateau supplies sufficient moisture to permit some agriculture in the coastal area, particularly near Al Arish.

Egypt has one of Africa’s most thriving economies and has tourism, oil and gas to its advantage. Tourism is Egypt’s largest money-earner, second is the tolls on the Suez Canal, and then exports of oil, petroleum products and natural gas. In 2007, Egypt produced 664,000 barrels of oil per day (bbl/d) continuing its fall from a high of 950,000 bbl/d in 1995. Yet having consumed 653,000 b/d in 2007, production was sufficient to prevent Egypt from becoming a net importer of oil as some had predicted. Production and consumption of natural gas continue to rise with a total of 1.9 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) produced and 1.3 Tcf consumed in 2006, making Egypt a net gas exporter. According to the IMF, the Egyptian economy will continue to grow at 7-8 percent if ongoing improvements in the business environment succeed in raising investment to more than 25 percent of GDP. Between end-2004 and end-March 2007, 2.4 million jobs were created. As a result, unemployment—chronically high in this emerging market economy—has dropped from 10.5 percent to 9 percent. Exports and imports also rose sharply, along with workers' remittances, Suez Canal receipts, and tourism revenues.

Although data are incomplete, various sources suggest that Egypt is set to have recorded strong growth in foreign tourist arrivals in 2007. After reports of robust growth in the tourism sector in the first four months of 2007 (with very strong growth in arrivals from Europe), official sources indicate that foreign arrivals were up a very strong 20% year-on-year (y-o-y) in July 2007. In line with these data, BMI has edged up its growth estimate this quarter, for foreign visitor arrivals to Egypt in 2007, to 8% y-o-equating to a total of 9.8mn. This would represent the strongest growth rate since 2004. BMI, however, expects growth in arrivals to slow somewhat in 2008 and 2009.

Egypt has every recognized element of successful investment. It is a stable country, politically and economically. Just this year the government ushered in radical changes to encourage foreign investment of freehold property. For the first time, more than $10bn of foreign direct investment flowed into the country. Dubai developers have recently trail blazed Egypt’s emerging property market. Prices have risen by 50% in the last two years alone, and are set to double in the next three years. The Egyptian Tourist Authority state over one million Britons visited in 2006, which poured a total of $7.6 billion dollars into the economy. Furthermore, their ad campaign ‘Gift of the Sun’ aims to attract 16 million visitors by 2014, which spells great news for rental potential. As for the future, Egypt and its neighbors have embarked on a ’Vision’ project to increase tourism to 150 million by 2020. All these factors make the Egypt property market a seriously good investment.

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