Buy from the Developer or Resale? The Real Difference in Price, Risk, and Time

<h2>Four buying cases, not two</h2><p>In practice, the market divides into four cases: a unit from the developer under construction (future delivery), a ready unit from the developer, a resale unit still under construction (you buy a previous owner's contract and continue their installments — known as an assignment), and a resale unit ready for immediate delivery. Each case has a different price, risk, and timeline, and confusing them is the most common cause of faulty comparisons.</p><h2>Why is the developer's price usually higher?</h2><p>Because you are not buying the unit alone; you are buying built-in financing: a small down payment and installments over years, without banks or declared interest. In our review of the advertised market prices in November 2026, we found the same pattern repeating across many projects: the developer's installment price per metre for 2028–2030 delivery usually runs at around 1.5 to 2 times the price per metre of ready and resale units in the same projects.</p><h2>A numerical example from Madinaty</h2><p>In the Privado project in Madinaty, the price per metre in the developer's installment campaign reached around EGP 99,590, while the cash price per metre in the same campaign was around EGP 67,223, and average advertised resale prices run at around EGP 83,349 per metre. A 122 m² unit in the same project has a total installment price of EGP 12,880,000 versus a cash price of EGP 9,338,000 — a gap of over EGP 3.5 million that is literally the price of financing and waiting.</p><h2>When to choose each case?</h2><p><strong>From the developer, under construction:</strong> if your liquidity is limited today and your monthly income is stable, your investment horizon is 4 years or more, and you can tolerate delay risk. <strong>Ready resale:</strong> if you want immediate housing or rental income from the first month, and you have greater liquidity — and you will usually pay a clearly lower price per metre. <strong>Assignment under construction:</strong> an opportunity for those who understand the maths well: you may pick up a unit at a fair price from an owner who wants to exit, but calculate what has been paid + the premium + the remaining installments as a single package before any judgement. <strong>Ready from the developer:</strong> combines the developer's guarantee with immediate delivery, and its price is usually between the two cases.</p><h2>The correct comparison rule</h2><p>Do not compare two prices without standardising four elements: the same project (or equivalent projects), the same delivery status, the same payment basis (cash against cash, or total installments against total installments), and the same timing. Any comparison missing one of these will lead you to a wrong decision, however tempting the number looks.</p><h2>The bottom line</h2><p>There is no absolutely "best" case; there is a case that suits your liquidity, your goal, and your time horizon. That is why Dealers State presents units already classified into primary (from the developer) and resale, and ready and under construction — so you compare each unit within its correct category from the start.</p>