Upon arriving for the first time in Hurghada and seeing the amount of construction that was going on, my initial reaction was the same as yours - how on earth are they going to sell everything?
But then, when I looked at the bigger picture, I came up with the answer "quite easily".
When you look at the state of development in Hurghada, it's still tiny in the grand scheme of things.
Take Bulgaria, for example. I don't quite know how much development is going on there in Golden Sands and Sunny Beach, but it must dwarf what's going on in Hurghada many times over from the amount of companies trying to sell it.
Turkey as well is seeing what is, to my mind, an incredible amount of development. At one point I read that there were 16,000 unsold apartments in Alanya alone (this was while everyone was nervous about the results of the summer elections and before it was announced that Alanya is getting its own international airport, so they are probably selling again now).
A recent Datamonitor survey predicts that the number of people in the UK buying abroad is set to increase at 13% per annum over the next four years. A Yorkshire Bank survey revealed that 50% of the UK population is interested in buying abroad.
The Russians have recently picked up the overseas property buying bug and, as their domestic market starts to slide, it will increase. Eastern Europe is starting to get in on the act and Scandinavians are big into Turkey already. I strongly believe that Egypt is to Turkey/Morocco as Turkey/Morocco is to Spain.
Where are all these people interested in buying property abroad going to buy? Spain and Portugal are on their way down, Bulgaria always was the property buying equivalent of the Emperor's New Clothes so where else is there? Morocco is already more than double Egypt and still doesn't have a 12 month season.
I'm not saying that Egypt is the perfect solution for everyone, but if it attracts only 5% of the interest that Spain did a few years ago, then all those units are going to get snapped up pretty quick.
I'm curious as to why the people you spoke to didn't like Hurghada. When I first went there, I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to like it very much. I didn't like Tunisia as there was nothing to do there; I didn't like Turkey as I found it expensive and down-market and I didn't like Dubai because I found it rather fake and 'ghettoized'. But I found that I actually really liked Hurghada.
So much so that I am staking my future career and lifestyle by moving there permanently in a month's time - which should be proof to anyone that I am prepared to put my money where my mouth is.
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