In my view, I think real estate revolves around property, location, price (basing on budget), stability and opinion of a person buying the property. The property is mostly referred to as buildings or land. I’m going to talk about the different factors highlighted above and how they affect real estate. In some cases, the property could be available but the market might be low due to different factors such as high interest rates, high taxation, to mention but a few. The interest in the property could also be determined by the government policy or plan. A case in point is Rwanda’s Vision 2020; in terms of settlement, it could affect the properties’ location since the government can recommend a certain area for different infrastructure that can be used for social service purposes such as hospitals, schools and other institutions, which investors or buyers could have considered ideal for settlement. The buildings or property in Rwanda are not very much improved at this point of time due to lack of well trained personnel in terms of real estate agents, people’s choices, views or information about available properties and, more importantly, affordability. Another important factor is that people’s interest in the property can also be determined by the economic development of the area where the property is situated. People can choose the property because of its connections with transport and communication networks, closeness to financial institutions like banks, administrative centres, education centres, health facilities and recreational centres. That’s the reason many people prefer urban areas like Kigali to rural areas. Places cannot be urban for a lifetime and some property buyers have taken note of the fact that some areas have potential and can develop vastly in the future and they have bought these properties with a possibility of large investment in future. When looking for property, people also look at the security of the area in which the property is located. People or buyers like places with assured security. Last but not least, is the issue of price of the property. Price greatly affects the property because the buyer may come with a certain strict budget and the price may not match the buyer’s budget which can delay the purchase. Finally, real estate in Rwanda is not very bad but it still needs to be attended to. I think if it is attended to as required it will improve greatly in a period of about 10 years to come. The writer is a Senior Three student, Nu-Vision High School
