LOCAL authorities are partly to blame for Zimbabwe’s spiralling property prices, a top industry executive said on Thursday, warning that excessive demands and red tape were frustrating investors and inflating costs across the sector.
Zimbabwe has recently taken steps to reduce the high cost of doing business, which has long been blamed for deterring investment in the southern African country.
However, the property market remains one of the most expensive in the region, according to experts.
Speaking during the CEO Africa Annual Roundtable 2025, Patience Patongamwoyo, chief executive officer of Seeff Properties, said local authorities were making hefty demands that were pushing up development costs.
“Local authority engagement is vital for driving smart investment in Africa, but it often faces significant challenges,” Patongamwoyo said.
She explained that bureaucratic barriers had become a regional concern, not just a Zimbabwean problem.
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“The bureaucratic barriers can slow decision-making, deterring potential investors,” she said.
“Additionally, many local authorities lack the capacity and resources needed to effectively manage sustainable development projects.
“I think right now, as we have entered the development space, we notice that local authorities themselves are quite broke.”
Patongamwoyo said many councils were now demanding that developers take on responsibilities that should ordinarily fall under the authorities themselves.
“So when you get a development permit, they want you to put up a road, which, in essence, they are supposed to be putting,” she said.
“So apart from putting the roads in my development, I am being forced to put up a road (for local authorities). So what it then does is it just pushes the property prices to the consumer.”
She added that such requirements were among the key reasons why property prices in Zimbabwe were high.
“People talk about why property prices are very high in Zimbabwe.
“Yes, there is a shortage.
“Those are some of the drivers that push the prices up, because we are being forced to do certain things that the local authorities are supposed to be doing.”
Patongamwoyo cited Botswana as an example of a country that was exploring innovative ways to finance local authorities.
“I was in Botswana last week. The Botswana Stock Exchange did a presentation where they have initiatives to assist local authorities to fundraise so that they put money into their own investments.
“Obviously, there is a way they can recover their money.
“I think, as Zimbabwe, we also need to be looking at how these local authorities can be resourced, because the end thing is that they are pushing all the costs onto the end user, which is the consumer.”
Experts say Africa’s population is expected to double by 2050, presenting both challenges and opportunities for the continent’s urban and housing sectors.