These are the Most expensive Houses in Egypt “I guess”

I stumbled upon that Real Estate website last week when my colleague was speaking about it and about how it had probably the most expensive houses sold with ludicrous prices in Egypt.
I did not believe the numbers at first but then I took a look and browsed in the website.
Then I remember how Egypt is the land of extreme contradictions, we got extreme wealth and poverty at the same time.

Last week I was interviewing a poor woman who was sleeping under a bridge under construction because the government kicked her out and demolished her house allegedly built on a state-owned land, a claim which is false. It is just crazy country indeed.

Without any further due here are the most expensive buildings in Egypt as listed in PropertyFinder.eg :

1-Ibn Zinky’s Villa: LE 270 Million

Yes, you read it right, this villa is up for sale for LE 270 Million {USD 15 Million}.
I do not know who owns this villa or rather the palace.
At first, I suspected it was owned former minister of finance and fugitive Youssef Botros Ghali in Zamalek which has been confiscated by the state in Zamalek island. (He turned to have a land in Zamalek worth of LE 200 million located directly to the Nile which he bought from more than ten years with a price less than its real value)
Yet, it turned out that Ghali’s villa is on another street in the upscale island.
Oddly, the website did not publish photo for the villa’s façade but it published photos of the villa’s interiors.
It seems that it is art deco village based upon its door.

The villa's door 

Aside from the many bedrooms, this villa got a sun room and some sort of a theater.
The website did not mention either when this villa was built.

The Sun room in the villa 

That small old home theater 

Needless to say, we are speaking about Zamalek upscale island so this villa could be very old.
I know the location of this villa, I will try to go and have quick look.

2-Another Zamalek villa: LE 252 Million

In the second place, we got another Zamalek villa for sale. You can own this classical villa for LE 252 Million {USD 14 Million}.

The dining room 

Its address has not been mentioned.

The living room 

Its façade is not included in the ad but a photo for the door is included

The entrance of the villa 

3-Katameya Heights villa: LE 240 Million

Starting from the third place, we will begin to read more frequently “Katameya Heights” where there is a villa or a palace up for sale for LE 240 million in Egypt.

The villa or Palace at Katameya Heights 

That 2,200 sqm villa is sold for LE 240 Million {USD 13 Million }.
It is located at the upscale closed gated community Katameya Heights in a “very prime location”.
The furnished villa has got more than 7 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms.

The villa/palace's entrance and drive way 

The website did not show the type of furnish in that villa/palace or whatever, empty rooms are only shown.

4-Katameya Heights villa for price LE 230 Million

Comes in the fourth place a villa with LE 230 Million {USD 12 Million} price tag. "It is not available anymore !!"
It is actually identical like the first one in design and even got bigger space “4,200 sqm” but it is cheaper “Am I even allowed to use this word here ?” by 10 Million Egyptian pounds. I do not know why.

The villa 

The villa's swimming pool 

Unlike the first one, it got an inner swimming pool.
It is over looking the famous Katameya Heights Golf & Tennis resort.

The overview of the villa 

The website does not show any rooms inside.

5- A Competition between Sheikh Zayed and Katameya Heights villas for LE 185 Million

We got two villas up for sale for LE 185 Million {USD 10 million}. The first one is in Katameya Heights and the other one is at Sheikh Zayed Suburb.

Katameya Heights villa

It looks to me a palace more than a villa.

The villa from outside

It got one kitchen and two kitchenettes as well two swimming pools. It is fully furnished.
It is amazing to me that the owners are selling it with its luxurious furniture.

One of the doors inside the villa 

Sheikh Zayed huge villa

Sheikh Zayed in 6 October district, an upscale suburb is Giza governorate is not strange on multi-million villas but LE 185,000,000  {USD 10 million } !! What is going on?

The Allegeria villa 

The villa is located in SODIC’s Allegria. In case you forgot SODIC was founded by Alaa Mubarak's father in law Magdy Raskh and Alaa Mubarak used to have shares in it.
There are no photos showing us the villa or why does it deserve this huge amount of money.

6 – Competition between Katameya Heights villas for LE 150,000,000

Suddenly, we got a drop in the price from LE 185 Million to LE 150 Million  {USD 8 Million}.
We got two villas at Katameya Heights are up for sale for a price of LE 150,000,000
Here is the first villa (1,150 sqm) with 7+ bedrooms and bathrooms.

The classical interior of the villa 

The villa's exterior 

The villa's entrance 

Here is the second villa which actually is smaller (950 sqm)  in space and rooms  (4 bedrooms and bathrooms only) than the first one.

A living room I think 

A balcony 

The villa's swimming pool 

7- A Palm Hills Villa for LE 146,640,000

We got back to 6th October district and we got a villa up for sale for LE 146,640,000 which is approximately also {USD 8 Million}.

The Palm Hills villa 

This villa (1500 sqm) got two 2 elevators inside along with 6 master bedrooms and 9 bathrooms.

One of the 9 bathrooms is so small 

It is furnished from Italy and you get a certificate guarantee of Italian authenticity of the furniture when you buy the house !!

The kitchen. I do not know if you get that red Kitchenaid mixer or not 

Palm Hills compound is owned Palm Hills Developments company. If you remember Palm Hills Developments {PHD} was founded in 2005 by Mansour & Maghraby Investments along with their partner Mahmoud El-Gamal, who would become later Gamal Mubarak’s father in law.
After the 2011 January revolution, there were questions marks and investigations about the huge masses of land given everywhere to El-Gamal and his developments companies whether in Giza or North Coast.

I do not know about the fate of those investigations as they seem to be have gone in the wind. Interestingly when I checked the management page at PHD’s official website, I did not El-Gamal among the names of the board of the directors. I only found the name of his business partner Shehab Mazhar.

8-Back to Katameya Heights villas and the price now is LE 140,000,000

There are three villas in that exclusive compound up for sale for LE 140,000,000 {USD 7.8 Million}
The first villa is truly classical luxurious one. When I showed its images to my mom, she remembered the royal palaces of Mohamed Ali. "It is no longer available"

The villa at night 

The dining room 

The second villa is not that classical. It has got 5 bedrooms and bathrooms with an overview of the Katameya Gold and Tennis club.

The salon room and dining room 

One of the 7 bedrooms 

The third villa up for sale looks so familiar like other villas.

The villa's swimming pool 

It seems that it is the standard model in Katameya heights.

The villa's kitchen

9- Another Katameya Heights villa and the price is LE 130,000,000

This time the villa is small ( building: 750 sqm) and that’s why its price is LE 130,000,000 {USD 7 Million}

An overview of the villa 

It has not got furniture like other villas but it got a closet room with a window.

The closet room 

10-Finally another Katameya Heights villa for LE 119,000,000

And our finale for the top ten most expensive villas is a villa in Katameya Heights villa which is up for sale for LE 119,000,000 { USD 6 Million }

Another overview for the Golf club

The villa's library I think 

It is fully furnished with lots of carpets as you can see.

Too many carpets 

I do not know why those rich people are selling their luxurious houses like that , are they liquidating their assets and are going to leave the country  because of the economic crisis Egypt is currently having.

The prices in Egyptian pound are quite scary but I think that the owners of such villas do not want Egyptian pound in the first place as they want in dollars. The high US dollar price to the Egyptian pounds is the reason behind those prices.

Now quick facts about Katameya Heights :

• It has been the most exclusive gated compound Egypt.
• Egypt’s Crème a la crème\VIP\Whos is who got villas there from Mubarak’s ministers to businessmen to officials whether military or civilian.
• I do not recall reading ads for that compound or watching TV ads on TV channels about it like in SODIC’s Beverly Hills Compound or  Palm Hills or Talaat Mostafa’s projects.
• Katameya Heights Compound was founded by New Cairo for Real State Developments Company which is headed by Khaled Abu Taleb and his brother Tarek Abu Taleb. You won’t find the names of those two men spread in the media like Shehab Mazhar or Hussein Sabour or Hisham Talaat Mostafa.
• Following the ouster of Mubarak in 2011, infamous minister of house Ibrahim Soliman was accused in the media of selling directly the land of Katameya heights compound to the Abu Talebs for price less than its original value in mid 1990s in another classical corruption case. I do not know if the Prosecutor general had investigated those allegations or not.