Leonita Mhishi
FOR many Zimbabweans, buying property has always been about one question: where is the next valuable suburb?
For years, the answer appeared obvious. Borrowdale, Highlands, Mount Pleasant, Greendale and other established northern suburbs dominated conversations among homeowners, developers and investors. But Harare is becoming too large, too congested and too economically diverse for its property story to remain confined to traditional addresses.
The next property cycle could be shaped less by prestige and more by town planning, infrastructure, densification and the emergence of new commercial centres.
Harare is, in effect, being redesigned.
The city’s new 2025-2045 Master Plan is an important starting point. The plan was developed because the 1993 Harare Combination Master Plan had become outdated, while population growth and urban development had significantly altered the capital. The plan provides a framework for housing, commercial development, infrastructure and land use over the next two decades.
For property owners and investors, that matters.
A master plan is not a guarantee that a particular piece of land will become valuable. But it provides clues about where the city wants development to go.
One of the clearest signals is densification.
Harare is increasingly being pushed towards a more compact urban model rather than endless outward expansion. The Master Plan states that 40 percent of land being planned is to be reserved for flats, while the national housing policy also promotes vertical development, cluster housing and mixed-use developments as ways of responding to population growth and land scarcity.
This represents a fundamental change for the property market.
The Zimbabwean dream has traditionally involved a stand, a house, a large yard and perhaps a borehole. But for a rapidly growing city, that model becomes increasingly expensive to replicate. Every new suburb requires roads, water, sewerage, electricity, schools, public transport and other services.
Densification, if properly managed, allows more people to live closer to existing infrastructure and employment.
The important words, however, are “properly managed”.
A block of flats is not simply a taller house. It brings more residents, vehicles and demand for water, electricity, sewerage, waste collection and roads. The Harare Master Plan itself acknowledges that vertical development requires investment in off-site infrastructure to support higher densities. It also notes concerns about the cost of placing the burden of bulk infrastructure on private developers.
This is where infrastructure becomes the real property story.
The completion of the Trabablas Interchange, formerly the Mbudzi interchange, provides a useful illustration. Commissioned in May 2025, the US$88 million project connects Simon Mazorodze, Chitungwiza and High Glen roads and incorporates 15 major bridge structures.
For the motorist, the immediate benefit is reduced congestion.
For the property market, the implications are broader.
Better connectivity changes how people perceive distance. A location that previously felt inconvenient can become commercially attractive when travel becomes easier. Improved transport links can encourage warehouses, shops, offices, residential projects and service businesses to follow.
This is why investors should watch infrastructure maps almost as closely as property advertisements.
The same logic is visible in Harare’s north.
Pomona has moved from being largely associated with open land and the northern outskirts to becoming part of a new development narrative. Pomona City, for example, is being developed around a “live, work, shop and play” concept, with residential, commercial and supporting infrastructure planned within one large development. Developers have reported completion of roads, water, wastewater and drainage infrastructure, while apartment construction has been introduced into the development.
This is important because it points towards another major change: the rise of self-contained urban nodes.
For the average Harare household, convenience increasingly has an economic value.
A family does not want to spend hours travelling simply to buy groceries. A professional working from home may value access to restaurants, pharmacies, supermarkets and services almost as much as the size of the house. A company wants its employees and customers to reach it without navigating severe congestion.
The result is that residential development and commercial development are becoming increasingly intertwined.
Harare’s Master Plan recognises this trend by providing for mixed-use development and neighbourhood and local shopping centres. Its development-control provisions include mixed-use zones and allow substantial building heights for certain commercial and shopping-centre categories.
That could eventually produce a city with several economic centres rather than one dominant CBD.
This is already visible in established areas such as Msasa and along major transport corridors, while southern Harare is gaining strategic importance following the completion of Trabablas. Other peripheral and metropolitan areas could similarly benefit as transport connections and infrastructure improve.
The key issue is whether development will follow planning or continue to run ahead of it.
Harare’s property history provides enough warnings.
Zimbabweans have seen residential developments emerge before roads, sewerage and reliable water systems were adequately addressed. They have also seen land prices rise on expectations of future infrastructure that sometimes takes years to materialise.
That is why today’s property buyer needs to ask more difficult questions.
Who is responsible for the roads? Where will wastewater go? Is the development properly approved? What is the designated land use? Is there reliable water? What commercial facilities are planned? What happens if the population of the area doubles?
These questions may appear less exciting than discussions about capital appreciation, but they are fundamental to determining whether a development becomes a functioning community.
There is also a wider lesson for investors.
The next “prime” property location may not simply be the suburb with the biggest houses. It may be an area where three things converge: planned density, infrastructure and commercial activity.
That could make emerging corridors increasingly important.
The property market should therefore pay close attention to areas around major transport improvements, planned mixed-use developments and locations where residential populations are becoming large enough to sustain shops, offices, schools, healthcare facilities and entertainment.
But investors should resist the temptation to assume that every road project will automatically create a property boom.
Infrastructure creates potential; it does not eliminate the risks of poor planning, weak municipal services or oversupply.
The same caution applies to densification. High-density development can make housing more accessible and land use more efficient, but without adequate infrastructure it can also intensify pressure on already stretched services.
The challenge for Harare is therefore not simply to build more.
It is to build differently.
The capital has an opportunity to create neighbourhoods where people can live closer to work, commerce and essential services. That could reduce pressure on the CBD, shorten journeys and create new economic centres across the metropolitan area.
For ordinary Zimbabweans, this could ultimately be more important than the next luxury development.
A successful property market is not one where a few investors make money from rising land prices. It is one where houses retain value because they sit inside functioning communities with reliable infrastructure, accessible transport and viable economic activity.
Harare’s next growth cycle is already beginning to reveal its shape.
It will be denser. It will be more interconnected. It will produce new commercial nodes and put greater pressure on planners, developers and local authorities to coordinate infrastructure with construction.
The biggest mistake for property investors would be to look only at today’s map.
The more useful question is what Harare’s map will look like when today’s roads, apartments, shopping centres and infrastructure projects have matured.
Because the next valuable address may not be defined by how exclusive the neighbourhood is.
It may be defined by how well it connects people to the city around them.
l Mhishi is the Principal Registered Estate Agent at HSP REALTY and can be reached on +263 772 329 569 or via email at leonita@hsp.co.zw