How to buy property in Egypt: the process, step by step

An Egyptian purchase has two separate tracks that people confuse: the contract that binds you and the seller, and the registration that makes your ownership good against the world. Most transactions complete the first and never finish the second.

Understanding Egyptian conveyancing means understanding that a signed contract and a registered title are different things, held by different institutions, achieved on different timelines. A great many Egyptian properties change hands on unregistered contracts, which works until it doesn't.

The paperwork ladder

These are the instruments you will hear about, from weakest to strongest.

Instrument	Arabic	What it gives you
Preliminary contract	عقد ابتدائي	A contract between you and the seller. Binding between the parties; invisible to third parties.
Power of attorney	توكيل	Authority to act for the seller. Used as a workaround, but it lapses on the grantor's death and can be revoked.
Validity-of-signature judgment	حكم صحة توقيع	A court confirms the signatures are genuine. Strengthens the contract; still not registration.
Validity-and-enforceability judgment	حكم صحة ونفاذ	A court judgment that can be registered and substitutes for a seller who won't cooperate.
Registered title	عقد مسجل / شهر عقاري	Real ownership, recorded at the Real Estate Publicity Department. The only form good against everyone.

If a seller offers you a توكيل instead of a sale contract, understand what you are buying: permission, not property.

The sequence

View, negotiate, agree price and payment structure.
Have your lawyer run the title search and confirm the chain of ownership back to a registered root.
Sign the preliminary contract and pay the agreed deposit. The contract should name the unit precisely, state the full price, set the completion date, and say what happens if either side fails.
File for validity of signature if full registration will be delayed.
Pay the balance against handover of keys and the original documents.
Apply for registration at the Shahr Aqari. For a foreign buyer this includes a Ministry of Justice security clearance that adds months.
Transfer utilities into your name and, in a compound, register with the management company.

Costs

Registration fees at the Shahr Aqari, capped rather than proportional, so the burden falls hardest on cheap units.
Lawyer fees for title search, contract drafting and attendance — a small fraction of price and the highest-value money you will spend.
Notarisation and translation, if your documents are not in Arabic.
Agency commission, if any, typically 1–2.5%.
Maintenance deposit and service charge arrears in a compound.
Annual real estate tax, which applies above a threshold on the assessed rental value rather than on the purchase price.

As a planning number, 5–8% above the purchase price covers most purchases.

Where buyers get hurt

Paying a deposit before the title search, then discovering the seller is one of five heirs.
Buying an unregistered unit with a chain that breaks two contracts back.
Accepting that registration 'will happen later' from a developer who has not registered the parent land.
Handing over cash without a receipt tied to the contract.
Relying on a broker's assurance about a document nobody has read.

Common questions

Do I need to be in Egypt to buy?

Not for the whole process. Much of it can be handled by an Egyptian lawyer under a properly drafted and legalised power of attorney, though you should see the property yourself or send someone you trust.

How long does registration take?

Typically a few months for an Egyptian buyer where the chain is clean. For a foreign buyer the security clearance step commonly adds two to four months on top.

Is an unregistered property worth buying?

It can be, at the right discount, and a large share of the market trades that way. But you inherit the registration problem and the narrower resale market, so price it in explicitly rather than treating it as a detail.

Last reviewed September 2026. Prices, tax rates, residency thresholds and ownership rules in Egypt change frequently — verify anything you are relying on.