Why Africa’s Wealthy Are Buying Property to Shield Their Wealth in 2026

A wave of mid-2026 wealth research is pointing to the same conclusion: across Africa, the people with the most to lose are increasingly parking their money in bricks and mortar. The Capgemini Research Institute’s World Wealth Report 2026, published on 4 June, recorded a 4.1% rise in Africa’s high-net-worth population last year, while Bloomberg’s Next Africa the same week framed property as the asset of choice for the continent’s elite. The logic is less about chasing yield and more about defence — holding hard assets that hold their value when local currencies do not.

For property investors, this matters because elite capital sets the tone at the top of the market and ripples down. Understanding why it moves — and where — is the difference between buying into genuine demand and buying into hype.

A bigger, wealthier base than the headlines suggest

Africa is home to roughly 122,500 dollar millionaires, 348 centi-millionaires and 25 billionaires, according to the most recent Africa Wealth Report from Henley & Partners and New World Wealth. Five markets dominate: South Africa (41,100 millionaires), Egypt (14,800), Morocco (7,500), Nigeria (7,200) and Kenya (6,800), together accounting for the bulk of the continent’s private wealth and nearly all of its billionaires.

The report projects Africa’s millionaire population could grow by around 65% over the coming decade (a forward forecast, not a guaranteed outcome), faster than most developed regions. That growth, however, is uneven: Mauritius has led the past decade with roughly 63% HNWI growth, with Rwanda and Morocco also expanding strongly, while Nigeria’s millionaire base has contracted sharply over the same period.

Why property became the refuge

The driver is currency. Over the decade to 2023, the South African rand lost about 43% of its value against the US dollar, and several other major African currencies — including those of Nigeria, Egypt, Angola and Zambia — depreciated by more than 75%. When cash and local bonds erode in dollar terms, tangible assets that can be held, rented and passed on become a store of value rather than a speculation.

This is not a uniquely African instinct. Knight Frank’s Wealth Report 2026 found that a large share of the family offices it surveyed planned to raise their property allocation over the following 18 months, with both commercial and prime residential in focus. The same report put the global ultra-wealthy population above 713,000. Africa’s elite are following a global playbook — but doing so in markets where the currency case for hard assets is far more urgent.

Where the money is going

Capital is concentrating in a handful of stable, liquid hubs. Cape Town is now Africa’s most expensive prime residential market at roughly USD 5,800 per square metre, and Henley projects it to overtake Johannesburg in total wealth before 2030. Mauritius continues to draw HNWIs through political stability, tax efficiency and residence-by-investment routes, while Marrakech and the Cape Winelands have emerged as fast-growing lifestyle-and-wealth corridors. Morocco was the continent’s single fastest-growing HNWI market in Capgemini’s 2025 data, up 16.8%, helped by firmer precious-metals prices.

One nuance worth flagging: property is not the only refuge. Capgemini found global HNWI equity allocations rose to about 25% of portfolios by January 2026 on the back of strong stock markets. Wealthy Africans are diversifying across asset classes and jurisdictions — Henley’s Private Wealth Migration Report 2026 describes them building “sovereign portfolios” of residence rights, citizenships and investments. Real estate is a central pillar of that mix, not the whole structure.

Snapshot: the numbers behind the trend

Metric	Figure	Source
African dollar millionaires	122,500	Henley / New World Wealth
Centi-millionaires / billionaires	348 / 25	Henley / New World Wealth
Projected millionaire growth (decade)	~65% (forecast)	Africa Wealth Report
Cape Town prime property	~USD 5,800 / m²	Henley / New World Wealth
Rand vs USD, 2013–2023	−43%	Henley / New World Wealth
Africa HNWI population growth, 2025	+4.1% (Morocco +16.8%)	Capgemini WWR 2026
Global UHNWI population, 2026	713,626	Knight Frank Wealth Report 2026

The risks investors shouldn’t ignore

A wealth-preservation rush has a downside. When elite capital crowds into a few prime postcodes, it inflates prices at the top and can price mid-market buyers out of the very nodes everyone wants — a dynamic already visible in oversupplied premium apartment segments in several African cities. Property is also illiquid: the “refuge” only works if you can eventually sell at a fair price, which depends on the depth of the local buyer pool. And the currency logic cuts both ways — a hard asset in a market with weak title security, opaque governance or thin resale demand can trap capital rather than protect it. Verifying title, developer track record and exit liquidity matters more, not less, when the headline thesis is “everyone is buying.”