Minister reveals key figures on social housing units

CAIRO - 21 January 2020: Minister of Housing, Utilities, and Urban Areas Assem al-Gazar stated that the number of social housing units established until present is 400,000, while those under construction are 290,000.

The minister clarified that the units were offered over 12 phases, whereas 1 million citizens applied. Thirty-five thousand units will be put up for reservation soon.

The total estimated cost to build the intended 1 million social housing units is LE 195 billion, of which LE 60 billion have been spent. The state has subsidized the units by LE 4.6 billion in addition to LE 29 billion financed by banks.

The minister explained that the subsidized amount is both directly embodied in LE 15,000-40,000 per unit’s construction cost and indirectly embodied in the form of land value, facilities, price discrepancies, and contractors’ compensations. The value of the latter is around LE 150,000.

Another support mechanism is subsidizing the interest rate over 20 years with around LE 95,000 per unit. The minister added that both direct and indirect subsidies amount to around 75 percent of the unit’s price.

The minister revealed that each unit costs more than LE 400,000, while being sold for just LE 154,000 so as the customer pays only 38 percent of its value.