House prices in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area recorded their largest quarterly increase in the last three months of 2023 since the second quarter of 2021, according to data published on Friday, largely driven by rising property prices in the urban areas of Wakiso.
The residential property price index for the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area rose 7 per cent on year in the quarter, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics said, up from 5.7 per cent in the quarter to September. The index also accelerated to 0.7 per cent from the previous quarter.
The index measures the rate at which residential property market prices change over time in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area, which includes Kampala and the urban areas of Wakiso. It covers new and existing properties, regardless of their final use, and includes the price of the land on which they are built.
Ubos said the increase in house prices was mainly due to a 3 per cent year-on-year rise in residential property prices in Wakiso, compared with a fall of 1.3 per cent in the previous quarter.
House prices also accelerated in Kawempe and Rubaga, where they rose by 6.7 per cent in the quarter compared with 2.8 per cent in the previous three months, and in Nakawa, where they also rose by 6.7 per cent compared with 0.6 per cent in the quarter to September.
However, they cooled in Kampala Central and Makindye, growing 12.2 per cent from 19.2 per cent the previous quarter.
House prices rose 0.1 per cent in the 12 months to December 2023, reversing the 3.4 per cent decline in 2022, Ubos said. This growth was driven by an increase in residential property prices in Kawempe and Rubaga. On the other hand, house prices in Kampala Central and Makindye, Nakawa, and urban Wakiso fell year-on-year in 2023, albeit at a slower pace than in 2022.
The index rose 0.7 per cent from the previous quarter from 0.1 per cent in the third quarter. The increase mostly had to do with residential property inflation in Kampala Central and Makindye growing to 1.4 per cent from 0.8 per cent in the prior quarter.
Kawempe and Rubaga, as well as Nakawa, also saw house prices rise over the quarter. However, Wakiso recorded a decline.
