Real estate in Egypt may be booming, but it deceptively inflates growth indicators without producing sustainable growth and development, Mohamed Youssef writes for Al Shorouk. Youssef notes that real estate enjoys a wide range of benefits that has allowed it to grow substantially at a minimal cost, including the fact that it requires cheap (not skilled) labor, that it doesn’t rely on expensive technology, and that it enjoys financial support from banks, particularly after the CBE’s mortgage finance initiative. In turn, the average cost of units continues to rise, and people continue to buy — pushing up the amount of money the sector reels in. However, building a residential complex is not akin to building a factory, and using the country’s labor force in the real estate industry is only taking that muscle away from potential industrial projects.

So khalas, we create factory jobs in a vacuum and then what? Rack and stack the workers in dorms, Foxconn style, Mr. Youssef? Then there’s the small matter of real estate accounting for 8-15% of GDP in Egypt (vs 15-20% of GDP in most western nations), so perhaps he might be so kind as to explain what might replace that contribution?