Egypt emerges as the world’s fastest growing mortgage market

Driven by huge domestic demand, Egypt will be the standout market globally for mortgages in 2017, according to a March report by Euromonitor International.

The research agency has identified the top three markets globally in 2017 by fastest growth in mortgaged households, with Egypt topping the list, followed by Algeria and Nigeria. According to Euromonitor, Africa and the Middle East are home finance hotspots, due to their large and growing populations seeking infrastructure and residential units to resolve urban housing shortages.

Egypt is expected to see an annual expansion of 18.9% in mortgaged households in 2017 alone, with forecasts that just fewer than 300,000 households are expected to be owned through a mortgage this year. The news follows a report by Euromonitor, earlier this month, that Cairo’s population is set to grow by half a million this year, more than any other city in the world. Egypt’s population currently stands at about 92 million.