Guides and answers about buying property in Egypt.
Sharm's oldest residential corner and the only one where a home's value rests on the reef below. How the area is laid out, how it differs from Hadaba, who it suits, what is for sale and why the main question at a viewing is the stairs to the water, not the metres to it.
After handover the defects are your concern and your money. What to bring, what must be checked — water, electricity, air-conditioning, windows, terrace, area, common areas — how to record defects, what to do afterwards and how to accept remotely.
Documents before money: about the property, the seller and the debts. Why copies are not enough, in what order to ask, what changes when a representative signs, how it works in the Property Passport and which answers from a seller are a red flag.
Square metres are not the main multiplier. Water and view, area and buyer, the building and its management, the service charge as price over time, readiness, floor and documents: the mechanics of price without figures, and how to read the real premium in the catalogue.
'Furnished' in Sharm means anything from a full kit to three pieces and the curtains. What usually stays, when furniture is a plus and when an overpayment, how to value it when negotiating and how to draw up the inventory so there is no dispute at handover.
The same flat is honestly both a hundred metres from the sea and five hundred, depending on how you measure. Three numbers under one figure, why height and the way down matter more in Sharm, how the catalogue field works and how to check it in ten minutes at a viewing.
Five relationships between a compound and a beach — from a gate in the grounds to a bus to another area. Which Sharm compounds have a confirmed private beach in the directory, where the beach is only a hotel's under agreement, what you buy in each case and what to check.
Large shoreline schemes, new phases in established resorts and recent buildings in Montazah and Nabq — from the directory, with a source for every date. Who builds in Sharm and how to buy in a project under construction without a lottery.
The divers' district between Naama Bay and the airport: a shore of reef and rock, homes above the sea, Soho Square in the evenings. What is built and being built, who the area suits and what to check at a viewing — from the way down to the water to the retaining walls.
A move is not a holiday that ran long. Seven steps: scouting in the season that worries you, status and documents with a lawyer ahead, the school as the choice of area, three years of income, renting before buying, what to bring and what to buy locally, medicine. And the six mistakes made most often.
Three to five warm months from November to April — the town's steadiest scenario. How wintering works in practice, when renting is wiser than buying, how to count honestly over the same horizon, and which flat suits living here half the year.
The price of the flat is the price of entry; then comes the price of ownership. The full list of cost lines — fixed, seasonal, sudden and legal — without invented sums, and a way to get a real figure for each line before the deposit.
The law is the same for every foreigner, but a buyer from Russia has logistics of their own: money through a chain of banks, document legalisation, a power of attorney instead of a second flight, a contract in Arabic. Eight steps from decision to keys and the list of what breaks most often.
Foreigners have long bought in Egypt in volume, but the honest answer to 'can I' is longer than 'yes'. What is available, why the form of title is not one construction, how a transaction from abroad works, how it differs from what you know and what a purchase does not give by itself.
A reservation payment is the moment your position changes. This is the list of things to establish before you pay a deposit, and the arrangement to refuse.
