Local Authorities Blamed for Zimbabwe’s Soaring Property Prices

Zimbabwe’s property prices are soaring due to council inefficiencies and developer levies, warns Seeff Properties CEO Patience Patongamwoyo (image source)

Zimbabwe’s spiralling property prices are being driven upward by local authority inefficiencies and excessive demands on developers, a top real-estate executive has warned. Experts caution that bureaucratic red tape is frustrating investors and distorting housing affordability across the country.

Speaking at the CEO Africa Annual Roundtable 2025, Patience Patongamwoyo, chief executive officer of Seeff Properties, said councils were imposing onerous financial and infrastructural obligations on developers — a trend that is inflating costs and deterring new entrants into the property market.

“Local authority engagement is vital for driving smart investment in Africa, but it often faces significant challenges,” Patongamwoyo said.

“The bureaucratic barriers can slow decision-making, deterring potential investors. Many local authorities lack the capacity and resources to manage sustainable development projects — and frankly, some are now broke.”

Patongamwoyo revealed that some councils now require developers to undertake infrastructure works outside their projects, including public roads and utilities, before permits are approved.

“When you get a development permit, they want you to put up a road which they themselves are supposed to be putting,” she said. “Apart from putting the roads in my development, I’m being forced to put up another road for the local authority. That just pushes property prices to the consumer.”

According to Seeff Properties data, residential stands in Harare’s new suburbs now cost up to 40% more than comparable land in regional capitals like Gaborone or Lusaka, largely due to offloaded municipal costs and permit delays.

Patongamwoyo cited Botswana as a model for reform, noting that the Botswana Stock Exchange is piloting fundraising initiatives allowing local councils to finance their own infrastructure — relieving developers and stabilising property markets.

“In Botswana, the Stock Exchange has initiatives to help local authorities raise funds for investment,” she said. “We need similar innovation here in Zimbabwe. Otherwise, local authorities will keep pushing all the costs onto end users.”

She urged Zimbabwe’s government and capital markets to create financing frameworks that help councils become self-sustaining rather than dependent on development levies that inflate urban land values.

Zimbabwe has made strides in reducing the cost of doing business, but analysts say property remains one of the region’s most expensive sectors. Experts attribute this to outdated urban-planning systems, fragmented land-administration policies, and limited access to affordable mortgage finance.

With Africa’s population projected to double by 2050, urban housing demand will surge — offering both a challenge and an opportunity for governments to modernise municipal finance and streamline planning approvals.

Economist Tendai Mupunga of the Zimbabwe Urban Institute said:

“If local authorities can’t manage their finances and depend on developers to build basic infrastructure, housing will remain unaffordable to most urban Zimbabweans.”

Policy experts are calling for reforms such as:

• Municipal bond markets to fund roads, sewers, and lighting;

• Digitised permit systems to reduce corruption and delays;

• Public–private financing models to relieve developers of government burdens; and

• Transparent fee frameworks to curb arbitrary charges.

Until such reforms are enacted, Zimbabwe’s property sector — despite strong demand — risks pricing out its middle-class buyers and losing competitiveness to regional peers.