The African real estate market would normalize and bounce back to pre-Covid-19 levels by Q1 2023. An interesting correlation that is monitored is the potential relationship between the vaccination rollout in Africa and the associated economic recovery across the continent. In Africa, industry, data centers and hospitals have been at the forefront of much development. Secondary emerging investment sectors that are rapidly gaining traction includes cold storage, self-storage facilities and affordable housing. The real challenges lie in offices, retail, and hotels. In the case of retail, the sector continues to attract investment. Many of the trends dominating the international real estate market at present were already prevalent or on an upward tick before Covid-19. It did accelerate market trends, especially as the sectors benefiting now had already started to grow before Covid-19.
The supply and demand issues related to the vaccines will largely have been resolved, with a sufficient supply to Africa so we can gain momentum across the continent in terms of the vaccination drive. That will be positive and see the start of a ramp-up in economic activity. In most countries, people are back in the malls and spending. Lockdowns mustn’t be instituted again, which is why the successful vaccine rollout is so critical. It is complex to compare the DRC real estate market to that in Nigeria or Kenya, for example, which have established stock exchanges and large property funds. A lot of big brands have found that the ‘cut-and-paste’ model does not work in the rest of Africa.