PropTech: Africa Market Map 2020
In a recent report published by the OECD, Africa’s Urbanisation Dynamics 2020, Africa is projected to have the fastest urban growth rate in the world by 2050. This is projected to increase Africa’s urban population by a further 950 million people. Rapid urbanisation is changing the face of the construction and real-estate industries. So is this creating new opportunity for technology companies?
According to Modor Intelligence, a market research company, the African construction market is expected to grow by 6.4% between 2019 – 2024. The speed and scale of development required to meet the population expansion could prove challenging. For PropTech entrepreneurs, technology can both help create efficiency within the construction process, as well as solving other issues such as land ownership, and creating transparency within the real estate industry.
Statista, a global data platform, reports that global PropTech investment, has increased from $2bn in 2013 to $18bn in 2018. But has this trend been reflected in the Africa property market? Research published in Knight Frank’s, The Africa Report, observed that “what started as a trickle through the introduction of online search platforms has become a wave of disruptive and cutting-edge technologies that continue to improve both transparency and efficiency”. With this in mind, we took a look at the companies innovating in the PropTech space.