Magued Sherif is an early-rising exercise addict who thought he was starting a new life (with a new business) in the United States when he got a call from then-SODIC chief Dasha Badrawi: Would he be interested in speaking about returning home to helm SODIC? An architect and former consultant, Sherif joined SODIC with a proven industry track record, having been general manager and a member of the board at Palm Hills Developments for more than a decade before becoming CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Properties in Egypt (2008-11) and then CEO and MD at Hyde Park (2012-14). He now has the challenging task of managing the nation’s premier property developer through a year that many expect will be challenging for his industry. Edited excerpts from our conversation:

2017 will be a painful year for pretty much everyone, but we all knew this was inevitable and largely overdue. The key will be to remember that taking the pain this year will put us on the right track in 2018 and position us for growth that was simply not possible before.

The biggest challenge for the economy? Unquestionably how every business adapts to the float of the EGP. This affects every business, it impacts every person in Egypt. Everyone I speak with is having the same challenges we are: How do you budget given the uncertainty? What exchange rate will we use? Will FX be available in the bank?

We’re budgeting at around EGP 20 to the USD right now. That’s the latest, and the figure has been marching up consistently since we began the budgeting process.

I think our industry faces a number of challenges in 2017, the first being the need to replenish our land banks at what are presently very expensive rates. The government remains the primary source of land, and even before the float, they had raised land prices beyond what we as an industry feel are already prohibitive levels. Over and above that, there is a direction that new land auctions by way of partnership with the government will give priority to those paying in USD, putting local developers at a real disadvantage.

On construction, obviously, the continuing increase in the prices of raw materials is going to squeeze. So far, our offering has been mainly core and shell products, so we have limited exposure to imports, but devaluation and inflation are still flowing through to local materials. Not as badly as imported materials, but we’re still affected. We’re seeing construction contracts being revised for the price of cement, of rebar, and this is on contracts backed by sales at the pre-November 2016 selling price. As we speak right now, we’re forecasting a 25-30% rise in the cost of construction.

The opportunity for our industry is unchanged: There are very strong fundamentals based on real demand for property and a limited supply from formal developers. We are a home-buying culture, and the lesson many have learned in the past couple of years is that with prices appreciating very rapidly, it’s always better to buy now. Serious, credible developers who stay on track will continue to sell despite the conditions.

Residential offerings will outperform other asset classes given the strong fundamentals. The outlook for office space is less rosy — we may see some businesses compromising quality and specs or foregoing moving given the general economic stress. I believe retail will suffer: Developers, operators and retailers will struggle to achieve economically feasible agreements given that rents are in some way or another linked to the USD. That’s before you factor in how retail itself will perform this year, especially those offering imported products with prices doubling with the float.

We’ve been studying the market on pay rises, and we are looking at diverse and creative ways to address the hike in prices faced by our people. We are working out a balanced approach to relieve our employees and at the same time not compromise shareholder value.

We raised our prices by 20% for core and shell and 30% for finished products directly after the float. We think this is a fair rate of increase. It’s difficult to predict what’s going to happen this year and whether we will need to increase further and, if so, by how much. We’re staying close to the market and we’re working closely with our suppliers. We are aware affordability will be an issue in the coming period and we are trying to be as sensitive as possible to all stakeholders.

We’re absolutely open to opportunities to add to our land bank through acquisition or partnerships with other developers who have substantial holdings but not the capacity to develop them. That said, the government will remain the primary source of land for real estate developers, and we are hoping to see more reasonable land prices and land allocation mechanisms in these already challenging times.

I think the IPO outlook is reasonable. Valuations are looking cheaper after the float, volumes on the stock market are up, we’re seeing renewed appetite from Europe and the GCC. I think the climate could be interesting for someone with an IPOable business.

The best-performing sectors will be basic commodities and any business that exports. It is a great time for someone with a competitive locally produced product.

The worst? Look, everyone will suffer, to be honest. There are just some that will suffer more than others — any industry that is heavily or wholly reliant on imports, such as the automotive industry, for example.

If I had to start a new business today, it would be something having to do with food. Egyptians love food. It is the one industry that consistently does well even in times of economic pressure and sometimes especially during these times as a pressure valve.

The biggest regulatory issue I’m watching for is how the state will react to the stress our industry faces today. I want to see some relaxation of payment terms for existing contracts. Perhaps extensions on project timelines given the challenges we’re all facing with contractors — and that some are facing with collections. And obviously I’d like to see something done to curb the price of land and extend payment periods — we need new mechanisms, and we’ve seen nothing to that effect so far. From East to West Cairo to the New Capital, land prices are either very high or expected to be very high with prohibitive stipulations.

Bottom line: We need to ask ourselves what happens to the real estate industry if the government continues to raise land prices — let alone demand that land be paid for in USD. Those notions raise very big questions about the future of our industry.