Selling property in Egypt as a foreigner comes down to three things: the tax on the deal, the papers that prove you can sell, and the route your money takes home. The tax is the real-estate disposal tax: 2.5% of the gross sale value, with no deductions, payable within 60 days. In Sharm El Sheikh there is an extra layer, because foreign owners there hold a long-term usufruct rather than title, and every resale needs fresh security approval under Presidential Decree 128/2022.
Below are the rules as of October 2026: who pays the 2.5% and on what, when family transfers fall outside it, what a buyer will ask to see, and how to prepare the bank file for taking the proceeds abroad. We are a chartered accountancy office at Office 314, Al Azizia Mall, in Sharm El Sheikh, and we prepare these sales with owners before anyone signs.
Selling property in Egypt as a foreigner: what you can sell, and where the rules differ
What you can sell depends on what you hold, and what you hold depends on where the property is. The rules that governed your purchase also shape your sale.
| Where the property is | What a foreign owner holds | What it means when you sell (October 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Cairo and most of mainland Egypt (Law 230/1996) | Ownership of up to two residential properties of no more than 4,000 m² each | No resale within 5 years without an exception; the power to grant one now sits with the Minister of Justice (PM Decree 2725/2024) |
| Hurghada and the Red Sea tourist area | Treated like an Egyptian for residential units, subject to the approval of the competent authorities | Check the approval behind your title, and any resale condition attached to it, before you agree a price |
| Sharm El Sheikh, Dahab and the Gulf of Aqaba tourism sector (Decree 128/2022) | A long-term usufruct over a unit; land and buildings stay with Egyptians or wholly Egyptian-owned entities | Every dealing, a resale included, needs prior approval from the Ministries of Defence and Interior and General Intelligence, or the contract is void |
| Rest of Sinai, such as El Tor, Saint Catherine and Ras Sudr (Law 14/2012) | No foreign land ownership; usufruct rather than title | You pass on the right your contract gives you; have it read before you market the unit |
In Sharm the consequence is simple to state. You can pass on only the right your contract gives you, for the term it states, and only with the approvals. Ignore listings that quote one fixed term for every unit: the term of a Sharm usufruct is set by the contract and the approvals, and that term is what you are selling.
Because the approval is a condition of a valid contract, a careful buyer will ask how and when it will be filed for your sale, and will want to see the approval behind your own purchase as well. Our guide to buying property in Sharm El Sheikh as a foreigner tells buyers to ask exactly that, so expect the question.
Who pays the 2.5% property tax when you sell, and on what amount?
The real-estate disposal tax (Income Tax Law, as restated by Law 151/2026, in force since 29 July 2026) is charged on the person who disposes of the property. In a sale, that is you, the seller. Heirs who sell an inherited property pay it in the same way. Nothing in the rule exempts foreign sellers.
The rate is 2.5% of the gross value, with no deductions. You cannot subtract what you paid for the unit, what you spent on it or the agent's commission. For every EGP 1,000,000 of sale value the tax is EGP 25,000, at a profit or at a loss alike.
The tax covers built property and building land, villages excepted, and it reaches further than a plain sale:
| Transaction | Disposal tax at 2.5%? |
|---|---|
| Sale of built property or building land | Yes |
| Gift or will to anyone other than your parents, spouse or children | Yes |
| Grant of a usufruct | Yes |
| Lease of more than 50 years | Yes |
| An heir disposing of inherited property | Yes |
| Transfer to your parents, spouse or children | No: excluded |
| Property sold by a company or a sole proprietorship | No: taxed as business income instead |
Two lines in that table matter in Sharm. The grant of a usufruct is itself a taxable disposal, and foreign-held units in Sharm are held by usufruct. When you pass your right on, the way the transfer is structured decides how the tax applies to it. Settle that before the contract is drafted, not after the buyer has paid.
When is the disposal tax due, and can you pay it from Sharm?
You have 60 days from the sale to pay. Miss the deadline and you are exposed to late interest under the general rules: the Central Bank of Egypt rate plus 2%, capped at 100% of the tax (Law 7/2025).
The Egyptian Tax Authority now has a Real Estate Disposals app for this tax, but as of October 2026 it covers Greater Cairo and Alexandria only. A sale in Sharm El Sheikh, or anywhere else in South Sinai, cannot yet be filed through it. Agree how the filing will be made before you sign, so the 60 days do not run out while you look for the answer.
If you are tax resident elsewhere, your home country may also look at the sale. Egypt has tax treaties with countries including Italy, Russia, the UK and Germany; relief at home is a question for your adviser there, and we can give them the Egyptian side of the file.
Selling to family, giving it away or leaving it to heirs: does the 2.5% apply?
Egypt has no inheritance tax, gift tax or net-wealth tax. That does not make every family move tax-free, because the disposal tax looks at who receives the property.
- A transfer to your parents, your spouse or your children is excluded from the 2.5%.
- A gift or a will in favour of anyone else, such as a brother, a niece or a partner you are not married to, is a taxable disposal at 2.5% of the gross value.
- Heirs who later sell an inherited property pay the 2.5% on that sale.
In Sharm, a family transfer still needs the approvals. Decree 128/2022 requires prior approval from Defence, Interior and General Intelligence for every ownership, allocation, usufruct or other real-estate dealing, whoever the parties are. Being excluded from the tax does not exempt a transfer from the approval.
Selling a property that belongs to your company
If the property belongs to a company or a sole proprietorship you own, for example the premises of a hotel, a café or a dive centre, the 2.5% regime does not apply. Property sold by a business is taxed as business income, and that needs its own calculation.
If you sell the company instead of the property, you are selling shares. Gains on unlisted shares are subject to income tax, and a non-resident seller must pay within 60 days. For a company inside Sinai or in the Decree-128 areas, GAFI charges an approval fee for the share transfer. If the company is more than three months old, the transfer also needs a Commercial Register extract showing at least 25% of the capital paid, and the security approvals come on top. Our page on company formation in Sharm El Sheikh and South Sinai covers the company side.
What documents do you need to sell an apartment in Egypt?
A careful buyer will ask for most of this before paying a deposit, so have it ready before you list the unit.
| What to have ready | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Your contract, showing the right it grants (ownership or usufruct), its term and any resale clause | You can pass on only what you hold |
| In Sharm: the approval behind your own acquisition | Without the approvals, a contract in the Decree-128 areas is void |
| In Sharm: who will file for the approval of this sale, and when | Payment should follow the approval, not run ahead of it |
| Under Law 230/1996 (Cairo and most of the mainland): your purchase date, and the exception if you sell within 5 years | The 5-year resale bar |
| Built-property tax receipts, and any assessment or appeal | The owner or usufruct holder pays; instalments fall at the end of June and the end of December |
| A plan for the 2.5% filing | It falls due within 60 days, and the app does not cover South Sinai yet |
Built-property tax deserves a check of its own. It is due on 1 January for every unit, empty units and chalets included, and paid in two instalments. If you have a built-property tax dispute pending, the settlement under Law 152/2026 covers it and stays open until 31 December 2026; our tax dispute settlement checker shows whether your case fits. The separate 2026 windows for discounted built-property returns and the late-interest waiver closed on 30 September and 2 October 2026.
If you let the unit in the year you sell, that rent still goes on your return: actual rent minus 50%, then the income-tax brackets, with built-property tax paid on the unit credited against the tax on that income. Individuals file between 1 January and 31 March. Our guide to property tax in Egypt for foreign owners covers the yearly side in detail.
How do you take the money out of Egypt after selling?
This is where generic advice helps least. The transfer itself is a banking step: your bank applies the Central Bank of Egypt's rules in force on the day and asks for documents to match. What it asks for depends on the bank, on your residence status, on the currency the buyer pays in and on how your purchase money came into Egypt in the first place, so we do not publish one list.
What helps in every case:
- Be paid through a bank, into an account in your name, for the price written in the contract. Cash, or a price that differs from the contract, makes the bank file harder to build.
- Keep the record of how the purchase money came in: the transfers, bank receipts and conversion slips from when you bought. The trail out starts with the trail in.
- Keep proof of the tax and the approval: the 2.5% paid within the 60 days and, in Sharm, the approval for the sale.
- Ask your bank early and in writing what it will need, before you sign, not after the buyer has paid.
Egypt's investment rules guarantee the repatriation of profits and capital, but that guarantee is written for investment projects. For a privately held apartment, plan the transfer with your bank instead of relying on it.
If you would rather hand the tax side to us, our tax filing service for property owners covers the 2.5% filing, the built-property tax and the rental return for the year you sell.
