African cities are undergoing unprecedented population increase, fueled by rural-urban migration, natural population growth, and economic dynamism.
However, the rapid migration of people to cities has outpaced the building of appropriate housing infrastructure, resulting in a supply-demand gap. As a result, rents have soared, essentially eliminating poor and middle-income people from the official housing market.
Fortunately, this is not true for every major city on the continent, as other places have a cost of living that is proportional to the average resident’s income. Simply put, various locations have financial opportunities that allow residents to afford the city’s average rent.
Furthermore, some of these communities pass and enforce strict rental restrictions to protect renters from rent increases, evictions, and inadequate living conditions.
Rent control measures, tenancy agreements, and dispute resolution processes in these locations help to maintain rental market stability and security while protecting renters’ rights. As a result, inhabitants are not saddled with the task of paying housing rent.
In such areas, renting an apartment is more cost-effective than purchasing a home. With that considered, here are the top five major African cities where paying rent is preferable to purchasing a home.
This list is based on Numbeo’s price-to-rent ratio, which is “the average cost of ownership divided by the received rent income (if buying to let) or the estimated rent that would be paid if renting (if buying to reside). Lower values suggest that it is better to buy rather than rent, and higher values suggest that it is better to rent rather than buy.”
| Rank | City | Country | Price-to-rent ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Algiers | Algeria | 40.2 |
| 2. | Tunis | Tunisia | 19.8 |
| 3. | Rabat | Morocco | 18.9 |
| 4. | Casablanca | Morocco | 17.2 |
| 5. | Alexandria | Egypt | 16.5 |