New analysis from Knight Frank has shown that Luanda is Africa’s most expensive real estate market. The Africa Prime Rent Ranking, a component of Knight Frank’s 2015 Africa Report took a weighted average of rents across 35 African cities in the office, retail, industrial and residential sector. The resultant analysis puts Angola’s capital – Luanda on top, with Nigeria’s Lagos and Abuja following consecutively.

The top 10 cities shown in the Africa Prime Rent Ranking are:

1. Luanda, Angola
2. Lagos, Nigeria
3. Abuja, Nigeria
4. Malabo, Equatorial Guinea
5. Libreville, Gabon
6. Kinshasa, DR Congo
7. Cairo, Egypt
8. Algiers, Algeria
9. Maputo, Mozambique
10. Accra, Ghana

The report also notes that rapidly growing economies in Africa are increasingly catching the attention of more property investors and corporate occupiers. Explaining that Africa is now no longer viewed as a region of long term economic distress, but is increasingly seen as a continent of opportunity.

Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa showed up in the 12th & 13th position respectively. With regard to the office sector, South Africa’s markets are more mature with a relatively larger supply to cater to existing demand. However, cities like Lagos and Luanda have been plagued with high land costs and an undersupply of prime office space in the past, this subsequently led to average rentals which are significantly above the norm. The table below shows average rents in the office, retail and residential sector for key cities as reported in the new analysis by Knight Frank.