Patience Patongamwoyo, licensee for Seeff Zimbabwe says the economic challenges which existed prior to the pandemic such as high unemployment, a high-interest rate (35%) and low liquidity persist. Hence, the market remains dominated by cash, generally driven by diaspora Zimbabweans investing mainly in entry-level properties along with a few buyers from the mortgage market and the business class.
High and medium density properties (land size up to 400sqm) are most in-demand up to USD80,000. Sellers generally want US Dollars (not the local currency), and many take their funds offshore due to policy inconsistencies and concern about leaving money in the banks.
The informal markets, which form the bulk of tenants, were adversely affected by the pandemic with rental payments affected by both reduced capacity and legislation giving tenants the option to defer payment. Commercial space has also been heavily affected with many companies failing to recover and vacancy rates now up to 50%.