Africa has been included for the first time in the 36-year history of advisory firm PwC and nonprofit organisation Urban Land Institute’s
‘Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2015’ report.
PwC global real estate leader Kees Hage said many global companies were looking to Africa for new opportunities, drawn by the 20%-plus returns across many territories.
The report’s interviewees noted that the listed property sector in South Africa showed “excellent performance”, with 26.6% returns, demonstrating significant growth and with a current market capitalisation of just over R350-billion.
PwC Africa real estate leader Ilse French noted that this figure was close to that of Singapore and Hong Kong.
Attractive investments included those that were upwards of $20-million, which provided opportunities for investors looking for high returns.
Securing finance in South Africa was not viewed as a problem, but it was in other African markets.
“One of the clear opportunities opening up for investors in sub-Saharan Africa was shopping centre development,” the report stated, adding that there were some concerns in economies heavily exposed to the weak oil price, such as Ghana and Nigeria.
“As global real estate investors seek value and returns when property is becoming overpriced in almost all markets, Africa is of increasing interest and has unique drivers for growth,” French said.
