The real cost of buying: which fees exist and who pays them

Why the cost of buying property in Egypt is not one number

The cost of buying property in Egypt is not one number, and any article that gives you one is guessing. Fees differ by unit, by seller, by the form of documentation involved, by who your lawyer is and by how your money travels. What is stable is the list of lines that can appear and the logic behind each of them.

Dommare is built on the rule that a public number carries a source. An editorial page cannot carry one, so this guide explains the mechanism and hands the arithmetic to the True Cost calculator, which computes from an approved rule set, or to an advisor who can quote for your specific unit.

The cost lines that can appear

• Agency fee — for the brokerage side of the transaction; the basis and the paying party should be stated in writing before you commit.
• Legal fee — for an independent lawyer to read the documents, advise on the position and act through the closing steps.
• Translation and legalisation — for your own documents and for contract material, generally priced per document.
• Registration or validation costs — the official costs of the route that applies to your unit, which depend on that route.
• Developer transfer or administration charge — where a developer levies one for putting a unit or a contract into a new name.
• Utility connection and meter transfers — for electricity, water and, where relevant, gas and internet accounts.
• Compound service charge — running from handover, whether or not you are in the country.
• Currency conversion spread and transfer charges — every hop in the payment chain can take something.
• Furnishing and fit-out — from nothing to a full pack, depending on how the unit is delivered.
• The viewing trip itself — flights, accommodation, transfers, and the time to do the inspection properly.

What makes each line move

An agency fee moves with the basis it is calculated on and with who carries it — sometimes the seller, sometimes the buyer, sometimes shared. Get the basis and the payer in writing rather than inferring them from a conversation.

A legal fee moves with the amount of work the documents require. A unit whose paperwork is clean and complete takes less time than one where the chain has a gap, and the second case is exactly where you want the lawyer to spend the hours.

Registration and validation costs depend on which route applies. Because Egypt operates more than one route, and the buyer does not necessarily choose it, this line is not predictable from the price alone and should be confirmed for your unit before you sign.

Developer charges move with the developer's own schedule and with the stage at which a name changes. Utility connections depend on whether the unit has live accounts or is being connected for the first time. Service charge depends on the compound and on how it assesses units.

The part European buyers underestimate

Two things regularly surprise buyers coming from the EU. The first is that a mortgage from your home bank against an Egyptian property is generally not available, so the purchase is funded from capital or from a facility secured on something else. That changes the shape of the budget rather than one line in it.

The second is conversion. Money leaving a euro or sterling account and arriving in a transaction denominated in another currency passes through a spread and one or more charges. It is not a headline cost, and it is not nothing. Ask where the conversion happens and who sets the rate at that point.

Add the trip. A viewing trip is a real cost of buying, and doing it once properly is cheaper than doing it twice because the first visit was rushed.

How to read a quoted all-in figure

If someone quotes you a single all-in number, ask for it broken into the lines above, with each line named, each basis stated and each payer identified. A figure that cannot be broken down is a figure you cannot check, and the difference usually sits in the lines nobody mentioned.

Where the figure comes from on Dommare

On a property page, the True Cost calculator assembles the acquisition total from a rule set that has been approved rather than from a default someone typed in. Each line arrives with its source, and estimates are marked as estimates, with the wording and the dashed underline that go with them.

Where a rule set for a line has not been approved yet, the platform does not invent a placeholder. It shows the inputs and tells you the figure is confirmed individually. That is deliberate: an unsourced number that looks authoritative is worse than an honest gap.

What to do next

Pick one unit you are seriously considering and open the True Cost calculator on it. Work through the lines, note which ones the calculator can source and which it cannot, and take that list to a Dommare advisor. You will get a quote for the gaps and a total you can actually check.