Property demand outweighs supply: Tigere

LISTED real estate investment trust (Reit) Tigere Property Fund (Tigere), which is an affiliate of Terrace Africa Asset Management, says demand in the property sector now outweighs supply ,as investors continue to view land and assets as a store of value, resulting in stability in values across all sub-segments.

In a statement accompanying Tigere’s half year financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2024 Terrace Africa managing director, Mr Brett Abrahamse said the company’s occupancy remained at 100 percent at both Highland Park Phase One and Chinamano Corner in Harare, with all tenants swiftly adjusting to the new currency environment.

“The property market remained buoyant in the first half of the year with demand outweighing supply, resulting in stability in values across all sub-segments,” said Mr Abrahamse.

“Investors continue to view land and property as safe-haven assets owing to their value preserving and forex-earning characteristics.”

He said Highland Park should further grow its revenue with the provision of additional parking allocation, a project that is being actively pursued for implementation during the third quarter of 2024. The Tigere Reit expects to close out its yield accretive acquisition of Phase Two during the third quarter of this financial year.

Mr Abrahamse also applauded the restrictive monetary policy stance adopted by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe saying this has resulted in a relatively stable macro-economic and business environment. This has seen the company realising net property income of US$769 885 for the period under review.

“Approximately 91 percent of revenue collections were denominated in US dollars, this is up from 72 percent during the 2023 first half,” he said.

“Highland Park’s main anchor tenant experienced a difficult trading period as the pricing dynamics weighed on their competitiveness and sales volumes. This affected our turnover receipts negatively, we have however noticed a recovery in trade from May 2024 onwards, which we expect to continue.”

Meanwhile, Tigere has declared a dividend of US$ 247 090 being US$0,03435 per unit in respect of the second quarter, which ended June 30 , 2024.

“The Reit has remained dedicated to its goal of paying quarterly dividends in line with offering unit-holders a combination of equity and fixed-income benefits,” said Mr Abrahamse.

“The Reit declared an interim dividend of US$247 090 (being 0,03435 United States cents per unit) in respect of the quarter ended June 30, 2024.”

Tigere Real Estate Investment Trust was incorporated in Zimbabwe in 2022 and was listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange on November 30, 2022. — @SikhulekelaniM1