A penthouse in Sharm El Sheikh: what the word hides, who buys one and what they get

A penthouse in Sharm El Sheikh is a rare product with a blurred definition. In Europe it is a top-floor flat with a roof terrace and a status of its own in the building; in Sharm the word covers that, a plain top-floor flat with a large balcony, and a two-level unit with a way out onto the roof of a four-storey block. This article is about what hides behind the word in Sharm's listings, who buys penthouses, what they really give, what they cost to keep, and what to look at before paying the top-floor premium.

What is called a penthouse in Sharm

• A top-floor flat with its own roof terrace — what buyers usually mean. The terrace belongs to the flat, is reached from inside it, and there are no neighbours above.
• A two-level flat: a living floor and an upper floor with a room opening onto the roof. Most often in the low-rise buildings of Montazah and Hadaba.
• A top-floor flat with a large balcony and a view — without a roof of its own. 'Top floor with a view' would be more honest, but listings call it a penthouse too.
• A unit with the right to use a shared roof — the terrace is not yours but common, with the right to put furniture on it. Legally a very different thing.

What a penthouse really gives

The view. The top floor in Sharm is the horizon above the neighbouring roofs, and in a town that steps down to the water it is the most reliable place for a sea view: a neighbouring block rarely grows taller than your roof. Air and light. A roof terrace in Sharm is a second living room from October to May: dinners, sunsets, a quiet the poolside does not have. Privacy. No neighbours above, nobody passing the door. Standing in the building. There are one or two penthouses per block, and at resale they have their own narrower but solvent circle of buyers.

What a penthouse really costs

• Heat. The roof over your head warms all day: in summer the top floor in Sharm is the hottest, and the air-conditioning runs longer. Ask about roof insulation — older buildings often have none.
• A terrace under sun and salt. Tiles, waterproofing, railings, pergola, plants — everything ages faster than downstairs, and leaks from the terrace go into your own living room.
• Water. Pressure on the top floor is weaker if the building has no pump; the roof tank is next door, which is a plus if it is maintained.
• The lift. Sharm's low-rise buildings often have none: the fifth floor on foot with shopping every day is part of the deal.
• The service charge. If it is calculated on area, the terrace may count in full or with a coefficient — ask for the formula.
• Wind. It is stronger on the roof; furniture, awnings and plants are chosen for it.

Where to look for penthouses in Sharm

Montazah — low-rise buildings by private beaches whose upper floors face the Red Sea and Tiran Island; in our directory Royal Residence 4 is described as a building of 16 apartments facing Tiran — it is in buildings like these that a top floor with a terrace is the local penthouse. Hadaba — the blocks on the cliff, where the top floor gives open sea and the sunset over the mountains. Above Naama Bay — hillside resorts with the bay from the upper floors. In Nabq the buildings are lower and further apart, and a penthouse there is more a view of lagoon and reef than of the horizon. The Cliffs branded residences under construction above Naama Bay declare unit types from studios to villas; the project does not publish a penthouse as a separate type.

Compound descriptions come from the Dommare directory, with sources on every card. We quote no penthouse premium in percent: it differs in every building and depends on whose roof it is, what the view is and whether there is a lift — compare by floor in the catalogue.

Who buys penthouses in Sharm

Couples and families who live here for long stretches and want a home rather than a room: the terrace replaces a garden. Experienced buyers — usually it is a second purchase in Sharm, after a studio or a flat, when you know what you want. People who value the view and are ready to pay for it, knowing it is the one thing that cannot be added later. For short-term letting a penthouse is a debatable choice: the purchase premium is larger than the nightly premium; for long lets to families it is a good one.

What to check when viewing a penthouse

1. The documents for the terrace: part of the flat, a right of use, or a shared roof. For the lawyer, but ask at once.
2. Terrace waterproofing and the ceiling beneath it: stains, blistered paint, a smell of damp.
3. Roof insulation and the state of the air-conditioning — come on a summer afternoon if you can.
4. Water pressure in the shower and kitchen, the building pump, the roof tank and who cleans it.
5. What stands on the roof next to you: neighbours' tanks, outdoor units, aerials, the stair to the common part — that is your view from the terrace.
6. The view from the rooms, not the terrace: over the neighbouring roofs or into their walls.
7. The lift: present, working, who maintains it.
8. House rules: may you put up a pergola, a hot tub, an awning; may you glaze.

A penthouse or a flat with a view one floor down

If the roof is not yours, there is no lift and no insulation, a flat on the floor below with the same view and half the problems is often wiser. If the terrace is in the documents, the building is maintained and the view is open, the penthouse earns its premium: it is a rare product in a town where the top floor gives sea and mountains at once. In the Dommare catalogue penthouses are a type of their own, and the card states what exactly the property includes.