Increased numbers of international investors are investigating opportunities in African real estate markets, attracted by the continent’s startling economic and demographic growth prospects, it is claimed.

According to a new Africa Report 2015 from international real estate firm Knight Frank, the population of Africa will quadruple to over four billion by 2100, with nearly one billion of these people in Nigeria alone.

It argues that could be the single most important demographic trend that will shape the world over the course of this century and by 2100 nearly 40% of the world’s population will live in Africa, with the large majority of these being in the continent’s fast growing cities.

Nigeria is now the largest economy in Africa with GDP estimated at $594.3 billion, followed by South Africa at $341.2 billion and overall Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most rapidly developing economic regions, and it is projected that 13 of 20 fastest growing global economies over the next five years will be in Africa.

According to the report, Luanda in Angola has one of the highest prime office rents in the world at US$150 per square meter per month, driven by demand from the oil and gas sector, and an extreme lack of availability.

Luanda’s population is forecast to increase by more than 70% from 2010 to 2025 period, while Dar es Salaam, Kampala, and Lusaka are expected to double. ‘Allied to strong economic growth, this is creating increased demand for the good quality real estate of all types,’ the report says.

It also points out that the retail sector has seen a huge increase in activity as a result of the rise of the urban middle class and the expansion of South African retailers such as Shoprite and Pick n Pay into the rest of Africa. Modern shopping malls are a relatively new concept in much of Africa, but a spate of new malls has been developed in key cities such as Accra and Nairobi.