Egypt’s five biggest listed real estate firms reported a combined profit fall of nearly 31 percent in the second quarter of 2020 as property sales slowed during the coronavirus crisis.
But the sector could recover by the end of 2020 or during next year if Egypt can avoid the second wave of COVID-19 infections, three sector analysts told Reuters.
“The coronavirus has led to a slowdown in initial sales and delayed deliveries, which affected real estate developers further” Nemat Choucri, head of equity research and the real-estate sector team at HC Brokerage, said.
Emaar Misr was the only company whose second-quarter profit increased, gaining nearly 13 percent to 365.7 million pounds.
Revenue of the five firms for the period were 4.795 billion pounds, down by 18.5 percent year-on-year, the data showed.
SODIC, Egypt’s third-biggest enlisted real estate company, was the most affected as its profit fell around 77 percent to 40 million Egyptian pounds in the second quarter, after dropping nearly 83 percent in the first quarter. (US$1 = 15.7600 Egyptian pounds)
