Finding apartments for lease in Addis Ababa

Background

If you were familiar with the Addis Ababa real estate market in the early two thousands or before the turn of the century, the only apartments for lease in Addis Ababa were situated on one of the run down state-owned apartment buildings in downtown Addis Ababa. Getting into one, legally, was next to impossible especially if one is not aligned with the state in some way. Since having a valid lease agreement for one such unit was considered a rare privilege only a few “lucky people” can enjoy, it would be quite a shocking news if a lessee vacates a unit and hand it back over to the state housing agency on his own initiative. Even if the apartment no longer has any use to the individual, he has the option to get paid handsomely for transferring his rights to a third party although doing so is illegal. Hence, it is fair to say that the market for apartments for lease in Addis Ababa did not exist until recently.

Around 2005, the Ethiopian government embarked on a mass housing development scheme, which introduced an affordable housing concept with the help of the German Technical Cooperation, which was called GTZ back then. With the help of the Germans the Addis Ababa housing development agency started building multiple story buildings near the city center. These affordable housing developments are commonly called condominiums by the locals. Since the demand to own a condominium in Addis Ababa was quite high and the government’s ability to meet the demand was questionable, the private sector saw the opportunity a few years after the government launched its affordable housing scheme and started offering more expensive apartments for sale in Addis Ababa to the upper middle class, which made it possible for the purchasers to put on the market their apartments for lease in Addis Ababa.

When the private real estate developers started building high rises, which introduced modern apartments for rent in Addis Ababa, young adults that come from wealthy families and some expatriates, who want to avoid the headache of taking care of a garden, hiring and managing security guards, having to purchase a generator etc. if they lived in a villa, were overjoyed by these new developments. Nowadays, leasing apartments in Addis Ababa has become very common as the number of options and the quality of the units as well as the quality of the amenities being offered by the developers is seeing significant improvements. Next, let’s discuss briefly what kinds of options one can hope to find when looking for apartments for lease in Addis Ababa.

Affordable apartments for rent in Addis Ababa

If you are looking for a reasonably priced housing option, you may start your search by identifying condominium residential villages that are located near or in your preferred neighbourhoods. The average rent of a 2 bedroom condominium in Addis Ababa ranges between 15,000 – 30,000 ET Birr depending on the location. After visiting a few options, you may find something you are happy with or you may not. If you think the quality of the units and how the community is structured is not for you, you may consider visiting options in apartment buildings developed and sold by real estate companies such as Ayat and Flintstone. The quality of the units at the various sites of these developers are slightly better and a bit more expensive than the condo units. If you are satisfied with living in a decent apartment for lease in Addis Ababa, their options may work for you just fine. A 2 bedroom apartment at either site may cost you anywhere between 30,000 and 50,000 Birr.

A bit expensive but good quality apartments for rent in Addis Ababa

If you have a decent disposable income and want to find a very good quality apartment for lease in Addis Ababa, there are plenty of options you can consider. Most of these options are concentrated in convenient locations in central Addis Ababa and they have been built by private individuals as well as real estate companies. It is a bit hard to list out all the landlords, who own such properties but let’s give you a summary of what you expect to pay for these category of apartments for rent in Addis.

Studios: 700 – 900 USD
1 bedrooms: 1,000 – 1,500 USD
2 bedrooms: 1,800 – 2,500 USD
3 bedrooms: 2,750 – 3,200 USD

Luxurious apartments for rent in Addis Ababa

These category of apartments for lease in Addis Ababa are quite spacious and offer great amenities the options in the other two categories do not offer. These apartment buildings are usually designed and built with people with luxurious taste in mind. They offer gymnasium, spa room with steam and sauna baths, some kind of garden or rooftop terrace, backup generator and in some cases swimming pool. If you want to get a luxurious apartment for rent in Addis Ababa, the size of your pocket has to be quite big. Here are the average rental prices of luxury apartments in Addis Ababa.

1 bedroom: 1,500 – 2,000 USD
2 bedrooms: 3,000 – 3,500 USD
3 bedrooms: 4,000 – 6,000 USD

A few tips on how to find your dream apartment for lease in Addis Ababa

The best way to conduct an apartment search in Addis Ababa is to hire an experienced leasing broker in Addis Ababa to help you find a few apartments for lease in Addis Ababa that you can visit one by one and choose from. You must also know that, unlike other markets, leasing brokers in Ethiopia do charge tenants for successful transactions they help set up. If your employer does not cover this expense and you are on a tight budget, you may have to look at other alternatives.

You may turn to the online market place. Although most of the apartment rental listing websites on the internet that advertise apartments for lease in Addis Ababa are owned and managed by individual real estate brokers or property consulting companies, you might get lucky if you browse through some classified ads and social media posts. Asking your colleagues and friends for recommendations is another effective way of finding your dream apartment for lease in Addis Ababa. Some people have also been lucky enough to find apartments for lease in Addis Ababa by diligently reading ads placed on public noticeboards.

In conclusion, if you are looking for an apartment for lease in Addis Ababa, we will be happy to assist you. Feel free to get in touch with us upon your convenience.