Housing policy and finance in Egypt: extending the reach of mortgage credit

El Kafrawy, Abdel Hamid H. (2012) Housing policy and finance in Egypt: extending the reach of mortgage credit. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis attempts to address the need for a clear strategy for the supply side in the Egyptian
mortgage market. The thesis focuses for the first time on the issues in relation to the role of the bank
and non-bank financial institutions in the creation of an effective and sustainable mortgage market
that works better for low- and moderate-income households in Egypt as well as the role of these
institutions after the mortgage market has reached a certain stage of development.

The key research objectives are as follows: 1) to address why Egyptian housing co-operative
societies can be seen as important policy agents to expand the mortgage credit beneficiaries base in
Egypt; 2) to evaluate the effectiveness of the Egyptian housing co-operative societies as community
based organisations and policy agents; 3) to identify and analyse the various economic, social and
political factors influencing this effectiveness; 4) to assess the role of the banking institutions (as
contextual stakeholders in the immediate environment of the Egyptian housing co-operative societies)
in expanding access to mortgage credit and savings in Egypt; and 5) to identify which institutions
constrain most the development of an effective and sustainable level of mortgage credit for low- and
moderate-income households.

In order to address these issues and objectives, the researcher reviewed the theoretical and empirical
issues associated with the assessment of mortgage credit intermediation models to identify their
reach and the limit of that reach and, implicitly, to examine what needs to be done to close the gap on
what would be a more accessible mortgage market. Further, from 2008 to 2010, the researcher
surveyed and interviewed a group of banking, co-operative and government officers in Cairo, Egypt.
Questions regarding their attitudes towards housing policy and finance in Egypt were posed,
especially in relation to the provision of mortgage credit in Egypt.

The thesis found that Egyptian banking institutions, as agents in carrying out housing policies and
finance, enabled the housing co-operative societies as stakeholders to form expectations towards the
results of the new reforms with the same framework as they had done before. The survey and
interviews showed that housing co-operative societies were dissatisfied with the expected results of
recent reforms in the Egyptian housing and mortgage markets. It appears that resistance to the
reforms was caused by the fact that housing co-operative societies were not interested. But the thesis
found that the unfair distributive results associated with mortgage credit allocation were resented most
by housing co-operative societies.

Thus, the thesis concludes that to extend the reach of mortgage credit, there needs to be a wider
strategy to reform the housing and mortgage markets in Egypt that includes strengthening the role of
community institutions such as Egyptian housing co-operative societies based on well defined and
structured stakeholder framework.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Mortgage Credit, low- and moderate-income households, housing co-operative societies
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HG Finance; H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General); H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Supervisor's Name: Gibb, Prof. Kenneth and Stephens, Prof. Mark
• Date of Award: 2012
• Depositing User: MR ABDEL EL KAFRAWY
• Unique ID: glathesis:2012-3299
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 17 Apr 2012
• Last Modified: 10 Dec 2012 14:05
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/3299