Glossary
What is off-plan?
Off-plan means buying a home before it is built, from drawings and a specification rather than a finished unit. In Egypt most primary residential sales are off-plan, paid in instalments over the construction period and delivered years after the contract is signed.
What the buyer is actually buying
An off-plan purchase is a contractual right to a specified unit, at a specified price, delivered on a specified date to a specified finishing standard. The unit does not exist yet, so every one of those terms is a promise recorded on paper — which is why the specification and the delivery clause matter more than the render.
In Egypt this is the norm rather than the exception for new residential supply, because instalment payments over the construction period are how most buyers finance a home in the absence of a deep mortgage market.
How payment works
The buyer pays a down payment, then instalments over a period that commonly runs several years, often continuing past delivery. The payment plan is part of the price: two units at the same headline price with different plans are not the same offer.
The risks
Delivery delay is the common one, followed by specification changes and disputes over what was promised. The buyer's protection is the contract and the evidence of what was agreed — which is why a complete, versioned record of the unit at the moment of sale is worth more than any marketing material.
Frequently asked questions
- Is off-plan cheaper than a finished unit?
- Usually the headline price is lower, because the buyer is carrying construction and delivery risk and is financing the developer. Whether it is cheaper in total depends on the payment plan, the delivery date and what the finished market does in between.
- What happens if delivery is late?
- That is governed by the contract's delay clause, which varies widely between developers. Read it before signing — the remedy is often a defined compensation formula rather than a right to cancel.
Related
See it against your own inventory
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