Harare’s next property frontier

Leonita Mhishi

FOR many Zimbabweans, buying property has al­ways been about one ques­tion: where is the next valuable suburb?

For years, the answer appeared obvious. Borrowdale, Highlands, Mount Pleasant, Greendale and other established northern sub­urbs dominated conversations among homeowners, developers and investors. But Harare is be­coming too large, too congested and too economically diverse for its property story to remain con­fined to traditional addresses.

The next property cycle could be shaped less by prestige and more by town planning, infra­structure, densification and the emergence of new commercial centres.

Harare is, in effect, being re­designed.

The city’s new 2025-2045 Master Plan is an important starting point. The plan was de­veloped because the 1993 Harare Combination Master Plan had become outdated, while popula­tion growth and urban develop­ment had significantly altered the capital. The plan provides a framework for housing, com­mercial development, infrastruc­ture and land use over the next two decades.

For property owners and in­vestors, that matters.

A master plan is not a guaran­tee that a particular piece of land will become valuable. But it pro­vides clues about where the city wants development to go.

One of the clearest signals is densification.

Harare is increasingly being pushed towards a more compact urban model rather than endless outward expansion. The Master Plan states that 40 percent of land being planned is to be re­served for flats, while the nation­al housing policy also promotes vertical development, cluster housing and mixed-use devel­opments as ways of responding to population growth and land scarcity.

This represents a fundamental change for the property market.

The Zimbabwean dream has traditionally involved a stand, a house, a large yard and perhaps a borehole. But for a rapidly grow­ing city, that model becomes increasingly expensive to repli­cate. Every new suburb requires roads, water, sewerage, electric­ity, schools, public transport and other services.

Densification, if properly managed, allows more people to live closer to existing infrastruc­ture and employment.

The important words, howev­er, are “properly managed”.

A block of flats is not simply a taller house. It brings more residents, vehicles and demand for water, electricity, sewerage, waste collection and roads. The Harare Master Plan itself ac­knowledges that vertical devel­opment requires investment in off-site infrastructure to support higher densities. It also notes concerns about the cost of plac­ing the burden of bulk infrastruc­ture on private developers.

This is where infrastructure becomes the real property story.

The completion of the Tra­bablas Interchange, formerly the Mbudzi interchange, provides a useful illustration. Commis­sioned in May 2025, the US$88 million project connects Simon Mazorodze, Chitungwiza and High Glen roads and incorpo­rates 15 major bridge structures.

For the motorist, the imme­diate benefit is reduced conges­tion.

For the property market, the implications are broader.

Better connectivity changes how people perceive distance. A location that previously felt inconvenient can become com­mercially attractive when trav­el becomes easier. Improved transport links can encourage warehouses, shops, offices, resi­dential projects and service busi­nesses to follow.

This is why investors should watch infrastructure maps al­most as closely as property ad­vertisements.

The same logic is visible in Harare’s north.

Pomona has moved from be­ing largely associated with open land and the northern outskirts to becoming part of a new devel­opment narrative. Pomona City, for example, is being developed around a “live, work, shop and play” concept, with residential, commercial and supporting in­frastructure planned within one large development. Develop­ers have reported completion of roads, water, wastewater and drainage infrastructure, while apartment construction has been introduced into the development.

This is important because it points towards another major change: the rise of self-contained urban nodes.

For the average Harare house­hold, convenience increasingly has an economic value.

A family does not want to spend hours travelling simply to buy groceries. A professional working from home may value access to restaurants, pharma­cies, supermarkets and services almost as much as the size of the house. A company wants its em­ployees and customers to reach it without navigating severe con­gestion.

The result is that residential development and commercial development are becoming in­creasingly intertwined.

Harare’s Master Plan rec­ognises this trend by provid­ing for mixed-use development and neighbourhood and local shopping centres. Its develop­ment-control provisions include mixed-use zones and allow substantial building heights for certain commercial and shop­ping-centre categories.

That could eventually produce a city with several economic centres rather than one dominant CBD.

This is already visible in es­tablished areas such as Msasa and along major transport cor­ridors, while southern Harare is gaining strategic importance following the completion of Trabablas. Other peripheral and metropolitan areas could simi­larly benefit as transport connec­tions and infrastructure improve.

The key issue is whether de­velopment will follow planning or continue to run ahead of it.

Harare’s property history pro­vides enough warnings.

Zimbabweans have seen resi­dential developments emerge be­fore roads, sewerage and reliable water systems were adequately addressed. They have also seen land prices rise on expectations of future infrastructure that sometimes takes years to mate­rialise.

That is why today’s property buyer needs to ask more difficult questions.

Who is responsible for the roads? Where will wastewater go? Is the development properly approved? What is the designat­ed land use? Is there reliable wa­ter? What commercial facilities are planned? What happens if the population of the area doubles?

These questions may appear less exciting than discussions about capital appreciation, but they are fundamental to deter­mining whether a development becomes a functioning commu­nity.

There is also a wider lesson for investors.

The next “prime” property location may not simply be the suburb with the biggest houses. It may be an area where three things converge: planned densi­ty, infrastructure and commer­cial activity.

That could make emerging corridors increasingly important.

The property market should therefore pay close attention to areas around major transport improvements, planned mixed-use developments and locations where residential populations are becoming large enough to sustain shops, offices, schools, healthcare facilities and enter­tainment.

But investors should resist the temptation to assume that every road project will automatically create a property boom.

Infrastructure creates poten­tial; it does not eliminate the risks of poor planning, weak mu­nicipal services or oversupply.

The same caution applies to densification. High-density de­velopment can make housing more accessible and land use more efficient, but without ad­equate infrastructure it can also intensify pressure on already stretched services.

The challenge for Harare is therefore not simply to build more.

It is to build differently.

The capital has an opportunity to create neighbourhoods where people can live closer to work, commerce and essential services. That could reduce pressure on the CBD, shorten journeys and create new economic centres across the metropolitan area.

For ordinary Zimbabweans, this could ultimately be more important than the next luxury development.

A successful property market is not one where a few investors make money from rising land prices. It is one where houses re­tain value because they sit inside functioning communities with reliable infrastructure, accessi­ble transport and viable econom­ic activity.

Harare’s next growth cycle is already beginning to reveal its shape.

It will be denser. It will be more interconnected. It will pro­duce new commercial nodes and put greater pressure on planners, developers and local authorities to coordinate infrastructure with construction.

The biggest mistake for prop­erty investors would be to look only at today’s map.

The more useful question is what Harare’s map will look like when today’s roads, apartments, shopping centres and infrastruc­ture projects have matured.

Because the next valuable ad­dress may not be defined by how exclusive the neighbourhood is.

It may be defined by how well it connects people to the city around them.

l Mhishi is the Principal Regis­tered Estate Agent at HSP RE­ALTY and can be reached on +263 772 329 569 or via email at leonita@hsp.co.zw

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