What facilities are open in Madinaty

I am living there.

Facilities are as follows:

1- Arabesque Mini Mall, which contains:
       
a- Four cafe's which also serve food (Like Cafe, Coffee Break, Tche Tche, Le Reve)
b- Vodafone
c- Radio Shack
d- Post office
e- Car workshop (maintenance, car wash, tire service)
f- Couple of Egyptian food outlets (Koshary, El Shabrawy)
g- Bakery
h- Couple of dry cleaners/laundry service.
i- Few service outlets
j- Book store will open soon
k- Fast food outlets will open soon (KFC, Pizza Hut ...etc.)
l- a greengrocer

Almost all of these services deliver.

2- The commercial area in B1 (Phase 1 Apartment buildings)

A- Metro market
B- Dry cleaner (they are abundant lol)
C- Pharmacy
D- a modest medical center
E- a bus stop

There is a school (The British School) that will start working effective the next school year (September 2012), swimming pool inside the Sports Club is under construction.

It's not a ghost town, and it's very quiet and serene, and moreover, rent is significantly lower than the rest of New Cairo.

and, some services from outside the city in the nearby suburbs (Shorouk and Rehab for instance) home-deliver to Madinaty ..... so don't worry everything is taken care of there.

Thank you for the info. Do you know how long it will take to drive to the MES international school? And are there many families living in Madinaty yet?

always travelling wrote:

Thank you for the info. Do you know how long it will take to drive to the MES international school? And are there many families living in Madinaty yet?

I would assume you mean the MES in New Cairo (Fifth Settlement).

I happen to work a few hundred meters from there (in the 90th aka Tesseen street). My daily commute is around 20-30 minutes.

There are around 1000 families living there, and the number is expected to grow to 3000-4000 in the summer according to the VP of Madinaty Operating Company since lots of units were delivered to families that are waiting for the summer vacation to move there to avoid disrupting their children's school year.


It is not a ghost town and still it is not crowded or noisy ..... I love it .....  Security is heavily deployed in all streets, malls, parking lots and around buildings ....... and they never let delivery men or construction workers go to buildings unsupervised which is IMHO great security.


Rent there is very cheap  .... goes for around 10 EGP (for non furnished apartments) per square meter per month (e.g.: 1700 EGP/month for a 170 sq.m. apartment)....... There are apartments starting from 100 sq.m. and up ..... (120, 130, 140, 170, 200, 220 ...etc.), depending on your needs, rooms, bathrooms ...etc. .... For a furnished apartment it starts at 3000 EGP/month.

Sounds great! We will be moving to Cairo in July. The houses in Madinaty looking nice and spacious and rent is fairy cheap. Is there a certain office where the houses and apartments are rented out or are the owners renting the houses out by themselves directly?

always travelling wrote:

Sounds great! We will be moving to Cairo in July. The houses in Madinaty looking nice and spacious and rent is fairy cheap. Is there a certain office where the houses and apartments are rented out or are the owners renting the houses out by themselves directly?

You can find both (direct owners as well as brokers).

I would advise against brokers since they try to overcharge you.

You can message me before you move to let you know the going rate of rental at that time so you don't get overcharged.


Are you looking for a villa or an apartment? How many rooms/bathrooms would you be looking for?

We are looking for a villa with 4 bedrooms. I saw that it is possible to rent for around 5000 LE. But looking at the pictures most of them don't have any kitchen only a double sink. And no AC in the bedrooms.. do you know if most of the houses come like that as they are brand new?? The owner can't expect the tentant put those things in??!!

Also the same 'problem' with the 4 bedroom apartments. ( apartment complex model 700)

well how long are you planning to stay in Egypt, coz the answer to this question will answer lots of your inquiries.


Let me introduce you to the common regulations of rent in Egypt, not just Madinaty or New Cairo.

Rent in Egypt is usually one of the following:

1- Old rent law (pre-1996)
2- New rent law (post-1996)
3- Furnished rent


#1 is usually for either units that were rented before 1996, or for people who want longer lease so they sign backdated contracts now. #1 is usually beneficial for the tenant since the landlord can NEVER kick them out (contracts are indefinite AND inheritable) ...... It is much less common now ...... and usually not suitable for expats because landlords expect a HUGE down payment to sign such a contract.


Now let's go to #2 and #3 which are most common now AND most common for expats

for #2, the contract is a little bit longer term than #3 ..... Usually 2-3 years ...... On the other hand, the apartment is handed-over to the tenant semi-furnished (just like you saw in the photos you describe). No water heaters .... No ACs .... no closets, kitchen counters ... nothing ....

for #3, the contract is shorter-term, usually 3, 6 or 12 months.... and usually costs 75%-100% more .... For example, the villa you saw going for 5000 EGP/month (which is rather cheap by the way) would go for 10000 to be furnished ...... And don't expect top-of-the-line furniture ... It will be very modest, basic models of everything (and let's pray to God that the condition is also good ... because it is usually worn out from so many tenants before you ! .. and you are responsible if something breaks down).....


So back to my initial question ... If your stay here is rather short (one year or less), go for option #3 since you don't have time and won't be willing to furnish an apartment (which will take time) and then leave .....

However, if you are planning to stay 2+ years, I would advise you to go for option #2, and I can help you with furnishing and let you know where to buy what you need (ACs, kitchen, furniture, fridge, water heaters .....etc.).....

What you can do one month before leaving is to make a garage sale and sell off all these items ..... At the very end, you may get back 30-50% of what you initially paid ...... But, if you compare this to option #3, it will be much better for the following reasons ... 1- You get to choose brands and models ... 2- It is in better condition (new vs. badly used) ... 3- You get to save money since you will never lose 5000 x 24 = 120,000 (assuming the rent unfurnished is 5000 vs. 10000 for furnished and assuming you stay for only 2 years not more .... the longer you stay the more you save)

Hope that clears your confusion

That is very clear information. We were thinking of taking unfurnished or semi furnished, for the same reason as what you said, it saves money at the end. That's how we have done it in most countries, but there was always a fitted simple kitchen, so I was very concerned after seeing the 'kitchen' picture. There are also certain extra fees I assume, when living in a compound. garbage collection, security, garden services..?

always travelling wrote:

That is very clear information. We were thinking of taking unfurnished or semi furnished, for the same reason as what you said, it saves money at the end. That's how we have done it in most countries, but there was always a fitted simple kitchen, so I was very concerned after seeing the 'kitchen' picture. There are also certain extra fees I assume, when living in a compound. garbage collection, security, garden services..?

1- for the fitted kitchen I can help you get something practical, economical and pretty for not so much money.

2- in Madinaty, the landlord pays to the company 5% of the unit net value at the time of receiving it from the company so the revenue from this money (which is kept in a bank deposit) covers the maintenance (security, garbage collection, customer service, gardening, water bill for apartment complexes, elevator electricity bill ...etc.) ....

Sometimes however at the end of the year when this amount (interest generated) doesn't cover, you have to pay the difference which isn't usually huge (around 100-200 dollars a year tops) ..... so don't worry about this.

of course since the unit is put up for rent already, it means the landlord has already paid this deposit and you'd only have to pay overages IF they exist which is not expected as the deposits in Madinaty are huge (5%) compared to Rehab for instance (small deposits)

appartments im Madinaty are so expensice. I was searching for 100-130 m and the prices are around 1,000000 L.E. I would like to move to new Cairo.Is Rehab better than Madinaty? better i mean- people around should behave in a proper way, streets should be clean etc.

me.expat wrote:

appartments im Madinaty are so expensice. I was searching for 100-130 m and the prices are around 1,000000 L.E. I would like to move to new Cairo.Is Rehab better than Madinaty? better i mean- people around should behave in a proper way, streets should be clean etc.

I believe you are talking about purchase, not rent.

The prices you are mentioning are not real. I live there and I know the prices pretty well ...... For 100m, you'd be looking at 500K (if we speak cash of course, 5 or 10 year credit could add 20-40% depending on credit terms).

Al Rehab - btw - is more expensive now at the moment since it is fully developed ......  If we speak short-term, Al Rehab is much better since it is already fully-fledged ...... Madinaty lacks some services NOW (but not in 1-2 years) ..... However if you are investing and/or staying longer here, Madinaty would be better

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Can anyone here update me about life in madinaty? How about facilities now? Is there many shops available now?