eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
Listed property firm, Mashonaland Holdings Limited, says the group will continue to engage Government on provision of housing solutions in the country coming on the back of ballooning housing backlog.
This is in line with the country’s National Development Strategy (NDS1) aspirations of providing affordable housing solutions and narrow the current housing gap.
The country needs over a million housing units while the capital- Harare alone – has over half a million people on the housing waiting list. The NDS1 is targeting to provide at least 220 000 housing units by year 2025.
Partnerships with companies like Mashonaland Holdings is expected to bring to the market housing solutions with reasonable terms while also meeting the standard urban planning requirements.
“The group continues to engage Government and Councils for the identification of land available for partnerships in developing affordable housing solutions in line with sustainable development goals,” said Mash Holdings in their 2021 annual report.
During the year to December 31, 2021, the group introduced to the market 24 fully serviced medium density residential stands in Ruwa and 25 cluster houses in Bluffhill Harare.
Further, the group is working on plans to introduce affordable serviced residential stands on its 42 hectare site in Ruwa.
According to the group, the 25 cluster housing project was fully sold off plan following a successful launch and marketing of the model house. The project was officially launched on June 11th, 2021.
Construction of the rest of the units is in progress with the first phase, construction of eight units being due for handover to the purchaser in the second quarter of 2022.
According to the group, activity within the development sub-market remained limited due to the difficult environment characterised by escalating construction costs versus the failing property market values.
The central bank, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) maintained lending rates at 35 percent to curtail speculative borrowing.
“This had a negative impact on productive sector including the construction sector as it escalated the cost of borrowing. The widening gap between property investments return and finance costs further dampened new development viability,” said managing director Gibson Mapfidza.
However, Government, through the Zimbabwe National Human Settlements Policy (ZNHSP), has indicated intentions to address challenges inherent in the sector as well as explore models of delivery that will fast-track housing delivery in line with the NDS1 target of delivering 220 000 housing units by 2025.
Apart from housing, Mash Holdings is also working on portfolio diversification as it offsets the capital losses associated with commercial central business district (CBD) concentration.
Last year, demand for commercial CBD space remained subdued resulting in declining rentals and high voids levels, which were worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic which saw businesses adopting remote working.
In light of this, the group indicated plans to further expanding residential segments, where demand has remained high due to the prevailing housing backlog.
This is in addition to other segments such as office parks, logistics, warehousing, retail and healthcare segments.
Already, the company signed an agreement to develop and lease a hospital with a leading health insurer and services provider with construction activity scheduled to commence during the second quarter of this year.
