The Built Environment Observatory said in its index of rental prices in Cairo for the third quarter of 2026, published on Sunday, October 25, 2026, that rents for unfurnished apartments offered for rent in Cairo rose 25% during the first nine months of the year compared with the same period of 2025, which exceeds the annual consumer price inflation rate, which stood at 12.8% in September.
The median rent across Cairo stood at 10,000 pounds ($207.04) a month in the third quarter (July to September), down 9% from the second quarter, while the median rent per square meter rose 5% to 80 pounds ($1.66) a month. During the first nine months of the year, rent per square meter rose 13% compared with the same period of 2025.
The median monthly rent ranged from 3,500 pounds ($72.46) in the El-Marg district to 75,000 pounds ($1,552.80) in Zamalek, about 21 times higher, while rent per square meter ranged from 36 pounds ($0.75) in El-Marg to 426 pounds ($8.82) in Zamalek. The observatory presented rents in gated compounds separately from district averages, and said their average in every district that contains compounds exceeds the overall Cairo average.
The index relied on analyzing about 5,000 advertisements for properties offered for rent on real estate websites in 26 districts and new cities in Cairo, used the median rather than the arithmetic mean because of the wide disparity in prices, and excluded furnished and non-residential units. The index reflects the asking prices for vacant or newly offered units, not necessarily what current tenants pay. The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics had reported annual inflation of 12.8% last September.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
