These are real estate opportunities in Uganda.

According to the Uganda National Housing Policy and UBOS, there are 7.3 million households in the country living in 6.2m housing units with an average household size of 4.7 persons. The estimated annual need for new housing is 200,000 units. Of these 135,000 and 65,000 units are in rural and urban areas respectively.

In Uganda, private developers primarily target the high end housing segment since it fetches a premium over the mid income housing. This has led to an oversupply in the high income segment particularly in Nakasero, Kololo, Naguru and Bugolobi.

Therefore, housing for the mid income segment is insufficient compared to the upsurge in demand. To date, there are very few affordable housing projects that have been constructed on large scale, specifically targeting middle and lower middle income earners, i.e. those earning between UGX 0.5 million to UGX 1.5 million monthly.

Investing in Uganda’s real estate industry needs a determined mind, capital as well as a visionary planner. To invest in property in Uganda, you may decide to buy land estate development, residential development, commercial building and agribusiness.

Real estate opportunities classified as follows:

1. Agribusines, The Agricultural Sector continues to be the most important sector in Uganda; it employs approximately 72% of the population and contributed about 32% to the GDP.  However, Productivity is limited by reliance on natural weather conditions and the still widespread use of traditional methods and equipment. Uganda is among the leading producers of coffee, bananas and oil seed crops (sesame, soybean, sunflower etc.). It is also a major producer of other crops like tea, cotton, organic cotton, tobacco, cereals, fresh foods and vegetables, nuts, essential oils, flowers, poultry and freshwater fish.
2. Land Real Estate Development– You buy land and improve it by adding services and utilities including Roads, Electricity, and Water. You then divide up the land into smaller planned plots and sell them out for a profit.
3. Condominium Uganda Real Estates Development– You construct a Building, divide it into different units, then you sell out the units.
4. Commercial Real Estate Development– You construct a building and Let out each of the units at a monthly fee.
5. Residential opportunities. Generally, the residential sector in Uganda is undergoing development, with most of the mega developments being less than 5-years old. Uganda has a housing deficit of 1.6 mn housing units largely concentrated in the low to mid income segment according to the Ministry of Lands.

Fact file

Uganda is rapidly urbanising at 5% per annum.

Population growth is 3.3% p.a expected to hit 40.6M by 2020.

Urban population accounts for 23% of the national population.

Average household size is 4.7 people per home.

National Housing need of 285,000 annually.

Housing deficit of 1.6M units with 210,000 backlog in urban areas.

Solutions

Uganda will need 12.6 million new housing units within the next thirty years according to the NDP 2015 to 2020.
Demand is significant for affordable decent housing at the middle to low levels of the income pyramid.