The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has amended some of the conditions of its mortgage finance initiative for middle-income people issued in December 2019. The initiative allocated EGP 50bn for mortgage finance for people with a monthly income of EGP 40,000 for single individuals and EGP 50,000 for families, with an interest rate of 8%.

The amendments increased the repayment period to 25 years, instead of 20 years.

CBE also abolished the maximum net area unit requirement, and increased the maximum unit price to EGP 2.5m. In addition, CBE allowed banks to accept alternative guarantees for finance in the event that the unit cannot be registered.

It comes as a continuation of CBE’s strategy to support the real estate sector because of its importance in advancing local production, providing adequate housing, and creating employment opportunities in different industries.