Angola real estate market to remain robust

By Henrique Almeida

LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola's real estate market should remain robust in coming years as demand for new homes and office buildings continues to be high, despite the global economic downturn, a leading developer said.

Jose Leitao, whose holding company Grupo Gema is building Angola's biggest real-estate project, said he did not think the impasse in the nation's first post-war presidential poll would deter investors from the sector.

His $600-million building complex, dubbed Comandante Gika, consists of a five star hotel, a shopping centre, 136 flats and two 22 storey-high office towers overlooking the capital Luanda. The project is expected to be complete by 2011.

"In so far as demand continues to be higher than supply, real estate prices will remain at current levels," Leitao said in an interview with Reuters late on Wednesday.

Property values, particularly in Luanda, skyrocketed amid an oil-fuelled economic boom that followed the end of a 27-year civil war in 2002, making the city one of the most expensive in the world to live in.

Analysts say that although home and office sales in Angola have slowed down in recent months, real-estate prices remained high, hovering at last year's record highs, due to a lack of modern apartment buildings in Luanda.

"Home sales have slowed down slightly this year but we are still selling apartments for the same price as last year," said Paula Oliveira, who runs a small real-estate firm in Luanda. "There is still big demand for real-estate in Angola, people are just thinking more before they buy."

That may help explain why basic four-bedroom apartments at the Comandante Gika are going for up to $2 million while office apartments, with an area of 580 square metres, are selling for $3.5 million -- most of which have already been sold.