Oil's Slide Drives 50% Drop in Angola Capital Office Rents
- Luanda bears brunt of Africa property oversupply: Knight Frank
- Economic growth in the continent has slowed in recent years
Luanda skyline.
Photographer: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
The cost of renting an office in the Angolan capital Luanda has almost halved in two years as a slide in oil prices damages what had been one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies.
More than 20 percent of new office buildings in the city are empty, and there’s also oversupply in the Nigerian centers of Lagos and Abuja, Knight Frank LLP said in a report. While oil-exporting nations are suffering, some of the smaller east African economies such as Tanzania have seen their real estate markets benefit from the drop in crude, with rents in Dar es Salaam relatively high and vacancy rates low, according to the consultancy.