Africa's super-rich are choosing Kenya as their preferred investment area to purchase a new home.
According to Knight Frank's Wealth Report dated Wednesday, March 1, 14 per cent of the African investors expressed interest in investing directly in commercial property in 2023 while 13 percent noted that they would invest through real estate investment trust (REIT) and debt funding.
In particular, the sectors where they invested include offices (32 per cent), industrial and logistics (32 per cent), retail (68 percent), residential private rented sector (68 per cent), hotels and leisure (41 per cent), development land (50 percent) and student housing (23 percent).
45 per cent of the investors revealed that they opted for the agricultural sector, 36 per cent opted to pour funds into retirement savings and 27 per cent preferred education.
According to the report, residential properties were considered the safest and least volatile asset in terms of investments. Cryptocurrencies, equity markets, and commercial properties were considered the most volatile respectively.
Of those considering investing in commercial property, 13 per cent opined that they would cough up to Ksh63 million, and 16 per cent revealed that they would invest up to Ksh127 million.
11 per cent affirmed that they would invest over Ksh2.5 billion in the commercial sector.
Liam Bailey, Knight Frank's Global Head of Research and Editor-in-Chief of the Wealth Report noted that the ultra-rich experienced challenges owing to the volatility of the markets which attributed to the decline in their wealth.
"Challenging markets meant the majority of Ultra-High Net Worth Individuals (UHNWIs) saw their wealth decline last year, with their collective wealth falling by 10 per cent (equivalent to Ksh1.2 quadrillion (US$10.1 trillion)," Bailey noted.
European investors faced the most challenges with a 17 per cent drop in wealth while Africa's super-rich demonstrated the most resilience with a five percent drop.
Among the changing investment strategies for investors to bounce back on the market include capital growth, capital preservation and income generation.
