Evolution of Zimbabwe’s housing sector: Is the country a nation of renters?

Zimbabwe's residential market has experienced a shift towards becoming a rental market and away from homeownership, as more people opt for short-term rental arrangements in urban areas due to economic challenges.

In this article we look at the trends in the residential market and population patterns, leading to the conclusion that we have more lodgers in the country compared to property owners. The article will zero in on Harare, seeing that that’s where most of the activity is.

Come to think of it, if you look around your circle of friends or family, I’m pretty confident a majority of them are probably renting. The difference is only in the type of accommodation they are renting.

We have more lodgers than homeowners

Growing demand for rental properties, particularly in the middle to high-income segments, has seen a surge in lodgers and a decline in home ownership as demonstrated below. The latest Zimstat report indicates that the dominant tenure status observed across Zimbabwe is "Owner," with 58.5% of households owning the dwelling units they occupy. You’re probably thinking this is contradictory to what has been asserted earlier, as it seems we have more homeowners than renters in the market. Don’t be fooled by these numbers. Everything becomes more clearer when you see that the homeowners being referred to here by the ZIMSTAT are mainly in the rural areas. Rural areas have the highest proportion of owner-occupied tenure status, while urban areas have the highest proportion of lodger-occupied housing. Ownership tenure in urban areas is much lower at 32.8%. The tables below provides the numbers . It shows that the country’s 2 biggest cities, there is a higher number of lodgers than homeowners.­