40 Years of Real Estate Development history and its Implications for Real Estate Research in Africa

This paper weaves together forty years of real estate development history with the research agendas highlighted by academics over the years and interviews with prominent African real estate professors to provide insights into the most important topics in African real estate.  The development history captures highlights from four editions of Professional Real Estate Development: the ULI Guide to the Industry written by the author every ten years.  Each edition captures lessons from the most recent real estate crash as well as the evolution of the development industry in the United States.  Based on interviews and an analysis of the literature, the major topics fall into the following buckets: housing, finance, discrimination, data, sustainability, infrastructure, land reform, and digitisation.  The conclusions highlight the most important real estate issues facing African urban and real estate development – the evolution of mortgage markets including secondary markets and public investment vehicles; the institutionalization of the industry both with respect to individual developers and finance companies; urban development cycles and their impact on real estate value; government policies with respect to land development, infrastructure, transportation, and globalization; and sustainability and climate change.   Of particular importance are how to deliver more affordable housing, smart growth with respect to planning and construction, climate change and its impact on flooding, fires, insurance, and resettlement, land regularization, information and data sharing, and mortgage market evolution and credit availability.  While the evolution of real estate development in the United States and western countries is instructive for the course of development, Africa faces a unique set of challenges and opportunities.  The topics presented here represent a consensus of some of the leading academics in Africa and offer a roadmap for up-and-coming scholars.