Pan-African conference to showcase Zimbabwe’s property market
PRIME real estate and property investment opportunities in Zimbabwe will be on show ahead of the API Summit in Cape Town, South Africa, on September 18th.
The API summit is a Pan-African investor event held annually to take stock of the state of the property sector across the continent.
This year, an investor day focused on Zimbabwe will precede the main conference to highlight the country’s real estate sector.
“Zimbabwe’s property sector has been attracting significant international interest because there is so much room for growth,” summit organiser, API Events, said in a latest update.
“We intend to use the dedicated Zimbabwe Day to ride on that momentum and connect local project developers with over 500 international investors who will attend the Summit.”
Zimbabwe is a strong investment case because of its competitive yields and return on investment rates as well as its US-dollar currency attraction.
According to the 2024 Global Property Guide, rental yields in Zimbabwe average about 10 percent, higher than in other international jurisdictions.
Simanga Madhlabuta, projects director for Troika Design Workshop, explained that the returns are driven by supply and demand dynamics owing to Zimbabwe’s housing backlog.
“Residential real estate is king and will remain the most dominant asset class going forward. However, other sub-sectors are growing and have the potential to deliver significant returns for discerning investors,” Madhlabuta said.
“A huge tourism infrastructure gap and a shortage of hospitality assets mean there is demand for hotel assets. This opportunity has put Zimbabwe back on the radar of international hotel groups, as evidenced by the increasing number of facilities planned for construction in the short and medium term,” he added.
Recently, Zimbabwe has seen the entry of international hotel chains including Hyatt and Radisson.
Regional property expert, Kura Chihota, highlighted that the local market has been evolving in line with regional trends, which augurs well for players in the industry supply chain.
“Our market is aspirational and, therefore, demanding a higher quality product. We are seeing more densification in urban areas with multi-floor and cluster developments becoming popular. This should translate into an upswing for industry players be they architects, construction firms, material suppliers or investors,” Chihota observed.
Stakeholders have called for policy stability if Zimbabwe is to leverage the renewed interest.
“Government and regulators have created platforms for growth, which has led to the improved sentiment towards the country – an example of this is the new Reit legislation,” Brett Abrahamse, managing director of Terrace Africa said.
“It’s crucial that currency stability is maintained and compliance and regulatory requirements are enhanced, in order to unlock more capital and catalyse growth,” Abrahamse added.
Madhlabuta said while international funding is critical, local financiers also have an important role, saying: “Participation by local money managers can go a long way in de-risking large capital projects in their initial phases, which paves the way for international capital participation and instils confidence in our market”.
The API Summit is taking place three weeks after a highly successful ZimReal 2024 Conference held in Harare in August.-chronicles
