Egypt's real estate market is returning to normal, TMG's Hisham Talaat Moustafa says

Hisham Talaat Moustafa, chief executive and managing director of Talaat Moustafa Group Holding (TMG Holding), has said Egypt's real estate market is operating at normal levels, arguing that the exceptional activity seen in 2023 and 2024 was largely driven by inflation, currency depreciation and sharp increases in construction costs.

Speaking in a phone interview with television host Amr Adib on MBC Masr's Al Hekaya programme, Moustafa dismissed concerns over a broad crisis affecting Egypt's major real estate developers, pointing to their strong customer collection rates and financial positions. He said TMG Holding's collection rate stands at 99.6%, meaning defaults represent roughly four per 1,000 customers, and that other large developers have reported similarly high rates in their disclosed results.

Moustafa acknowledged that some smaller developers are facing difficulties, particularly companies that entered the sector over the past five or six years, but estimated that their sales account for only about 1% to 2% of the overall market. He said the government is working to resolve the problems facing some of those companies, and argued that trouble in such a limited share of the market should not be read as evidence of a broader crisis.

He attributed the 2023-2024 boom to buyers purchasing property as a hedge against inflation, which created a wave of investment-driven demand. As monetary conditions tightened and liquidity declined during 2025 and 2026, that left more units being offered for resale at a time when purchasing power had weakened, slowing activity in the secondary market.

Moustafa described the cooling as a period of readjustment rather than a structural crisis, saying sales and unit transfers are continuing normally and that the market is returning to more sustainable levels following two years of exceptional, inflation-driven activity.