JOHANNESBURG, July 25 (Xinhua) -- Despite Africa's slowdown, property developers and private equity funds continue to pour investment into the continent, but with more focused strategies, organizers of the upcoming Africa Property Investment (API) Summit said on Monday.
"Over 1.2 billion U.S. dollars has been raised and allocated to real estate investment in Africa over the past year and we expect this trend to continue," said Kfir Rusin, General Manager of APIS.
This year's summit, scheduled for August 18-19 in Johannesburg, will feature various discussions on innovative strategies and collaboration, as well as showcasing new real estate opportunities and projects across Africa.
Commenting on the global capital flows making their mark on African real estate, Peter Welborn, Chairman of Knight Franks' Africa business, said the underlying investment theme across sub-Saharan Africa, over the next decade will undoubtedly be driven by substantial allocations of equity, into joint ventures with local partners.
Both the West African retail sector as well as the Southern and East Africa logistics sectors will be high on the list of international capital, he said.
The last year has seen property companies like Actis, RMB Westport, Novare, Phatisa and Growthpoint raising capital from global funds such as GIC Singapore, Grosvenor (USA), The IFC, CDC Group (UK) among other international funds.
The API Summit is the leading Africa-focused real estate forum, which brings together influential property players from around the continent.
"This year's summit will feature various discussions on innovative strategies and collaboration, as well as showcasing new real estate opportunities and projects across Africa. Whilst uncertainty remains, we believe that African property is still poised for growth," said Rusin.
It has been confirmed that over 500 delegates from over 30 different countries will attend the summit.
