Top 5 major African cities where paying rent is better than buying a house

African cities are experiencing extraordinary population expansion, driven by rural-urban migration, natural population growth, and economic dynamism. However, the fast migration of people into cities has outpaced the development of suitable housing infrastructure, resulting in a supply-demand gap. As a result, rental costs have risen, effectively excluding low and middle-income individuals from the formal housing market.

This fortunately is not the case for every major city on the continent as some cities offer a cost of living that is proportionate to the revenue of the average residents. Simply put, certain cities offer financial opportunities that enable their residents to afford the average amount the city allocates to rent.

Additionally, some of these cities enact and enforce robust rental regulations that protect tenants from rent gouging, evictions, and substandard housing conditions.

Rent control measures, tenancy agreements, and dispute resolution mechanisms in these regions foster stability and security in the rental market while safeguarding tenants' rights. As a result, residents are not overburdened by the responsibility of paying house rent.

For such regions, it is more economical to rent an apartment rather than to buy a house. With that said here are the top 5 major African cities where paying rent is better than buying a house.

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."