Buying property in Hurghada as a foreigner

What you can own

• Up to two residential units per foreign individual, nationwide, totalling no more than 4,000 square metres. A married couple counts as two individuals, each with their own allowance.
• Full freehold title in Hurghada and the Red Sea generally — which is the key difference from the Sinai, where foreigners hold usufruct or long lease, commonly up to 75 years. Anyone advertising freehold in Sharm El Sheikh or Dahab should be asked to produce the deed.
• The right to let the property, short-term and long-term, subject to any building or development rules.
• The right to sell and to inherit.

Off-limits: agricultural land, protected historic property, and military or border zones. Coastal purchases need an approval step, which a competent developer or lawyer handles as routine.

Paying for it

Funds should enter Egypt through a state-owned Egyptian bank with documentation showing the source. Keep the SWIFT confirmations and the bank's certificate for the entire time you own the property.

1. Registration and residency applications both ask for this documentation.
2. Repatriating sale proceeds later is far easier when you can evidence that the money came in through the formal channel.
3. Do not pay cash informally, and never route the purchase price through a third party's personal account — including an agent's.

Residency through property

Egypt links property purchase to residence permits on a tiered basis, and Hurghada prices sit near the entry thresholds, which is a large part of the market's appeal. The tiers were restructured by decree in 2023 and adjusted since, and published sources disagree, so treat these as the shape of the scheme and confirm the current figures before buying for this reason:

In every version of the scheme the property must be residential and registered in your name. A reservation form or an unregistered preliminary contract does not qualify — and a great deal of Hurghada stock is unregistered, so this single requirement rules out many units.

The process, and where buyers get hurt

1. Appoint an independent Egyptian lawyer. Not one recommended by the seller, the developer or the agent.
2. Verify the building licence and that floors built match floors licensed.
3. Verify the developer's title and whether your unit can actually be registered.
4. Visit the property, or send someone unconnected to the seller. Buying Red Sea property on photographs is how most foreign buyers lose money.
5. Transfer funds through the formal channel and keep every document.
6. Budget several extra months for registration — the Ministry of Justice security clearance for foreign buyers adds materially to the timeline.

Common questions