Bulawayo Real Estate Market Review

It’s everyone’s dream to own a property, in fact it’s one of the basic needs for any individual, but let’s look at the trends in our city, the City of Kings and Queens in this first quarter of 2022. Will this be a reality to many or just a dream at the moment?

 Sales Market

Property sales business has been facing several challenges chief among them the proliferation of bogus estate agents duping potential buyers.  This is being caused by an information gap as the public seems not to be fully aware of the benefits of working with registered estate agents. 

Some buyers do not even know or appreciate the realtor's value to completing a transaction safely. Unregistered agents are taking advantage of the ignorance and they then take move to carry out property scams and fraud. 

Acquiring the services of a registered agent is always advised. 

Covid-19 has also impacted on the sales and development market in Bulawayo as most people lost their incomes, others could not operate at full capacity due to restrictions. This negatively impacted on the progress for land development projects like in Emganwini, Mbundane and Lower Rangemore. 

Contractors took time to fully service the land and it delayed acquisition of Surveyor General title which in turn has also delayed the selling of the projects. Also as a result some of the land is now being sold subserviced and below the market value in agreement that the purchaser will cover the servicing costs.  Naturally, this makes the selling of such challenging. 

On the other hand, the delays have also resulted in over pricing of land in well serviced areas as supply is dwindling and cost of servicing has escalated and developers are trying to cash in on the lack of fully serviced stock. 

The western areas of the city continue to see increased activity as developers are working day in day out in places like Cowdray Park, Luveve, Emganwini, Mbundane and Pumula unlike the eastern parts which have few developments going on in Selbourne Park and King City. 

The medium density has had a reasonable number of projects both by the city council and private players which includes but not limited to the following Emhlangeni, Hopelyn and Hopeville.

The unsteady cash flow pattern has resulted in very few sales being concluded or cancellations of deed of sale due to breach by the purchaser. Sellers to cushion themselves against this trend, are now selling at a premium which subsequently results in few takers on the market.  

Rental Market 

Under the current multi-currency system, most landlords are charging rentals in United States Dollars but can be payable in either the local currency or any other currency. Inflationary pressures on the local currency has made it difficult to negotiate and agree rentals in local currency with a long term view.

Rental consistency also seems to be an issue given the current circumstances with cases of tenants paying varying rentals for similar space in one building under single management.

Some firms are net leasing while some are still gross leasing and this has also contributed to the rental discrepancies. Rent reviews are now more frequent in about every 3 months compared to the previous standard procedure of about 3 years. 

Generally we can conclude that there is no consistency in the rental market at the moment and this is mostly due to the prevailing economic environment.

Contributed by Olley Tendai Chakawa 

Hollands Bulawayo (pvt) limited

Principal Registered Agent

Olley is a seasoned valuer with experience gained over the years at a local leading real estate company.  A go to person for all your property requirement