By Frank Kamuntu
Billionaire and Chairman Ruparelia Group of Companies, Sudhir Ruparelia has always advised Ugandans to put their money in the real estate business because it’s one of the few businesses that can endure storms of Uganda’s economy.
“First, try and grow according to the cash flow you have and are creating. It is probably the best option. Because the truth is said, opportunities come all the time, especially when you have good cash flow. Take those opportunities. So long as you have made the right plan, over the years your building or land value will grow massively”.
“You must allow some form of organic growth in your business. So long as you have a good amount of cash flow coming in, you mainly need to focus on the right location and the right plan, that’s all invest and plan right.”
He advised those having money to start investing in building condominiums because they are the future of housing in Kampala.
”Land in cities is getting more expensive, many are resorting to condos. The future I see is people will have upcountry homes and only do apartments in cities.”
In reference to Mr. Sudhir’s piece of advice, Shirley Kongai the President of the Association of Real Estates Agents added that the Real estate sector is one of the safest businesses to venture into due to its ability to overcome inflation and other financial crises.
”Uganda’s real estate business has both professional/formal and unprofessional/informal realtors. It is largely unregulated so it’s brokers and realtors enjoying the fruits of the sector.”
However, Judy Rugasira, the Chief Executive Officer Knight Frank cautioned property developers that before thinking about the business, they should first make sure they have enough finances to avoid getting stuck along the way or falling into loans which will shatter down their business
”In Uganda building is not easy at all, it’s very expensive, me I would urge property developers to make sure they have enough funds required to cater for material purchase among other expenses before starting to built…because building takes years, so if you don’t have an upright finance source, you may get stuck along the way,” she said.
Uganda’s real estate sector is an emerging market that is currently still in its infancy and one of the safest fields of investment in Uganda and has continued to grow at 5.6 percent over the last four years. The real estate in Uganda has grown tremendously over the past decade with many residential homes, business premises and office blocks being set up especially in the Kampala Area.
However, the sector since it’s still emerging it’s still facing challenges such as high cost of funding, lack of adequate funding to the sector, expensive land in urban areas, slow process of streamlining the land registry and lack of adequate well trained and experienced manpower to manage the sector
