Lusaka, Zambia
Lusaka's land register is open to anyone who pays a fee for each search, but nobody can get the owners in bulk. The capital's landmarks belong mostly to the State, its corporations and the national pension fund.
8 buildings · 5 with an owner established · 23 sources · 4 tier A · 3 tier B · 1 tier C · prepared 2026-10-21
Can you find out who owns it?
All land in Zambia is held under the Lands and Deeds Registry Act (Cap. 185), and the Lands and Deeds Registry of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources keeps the register. Section 22 says the Register 'may during the usual office hours be searched and examined by anyone', and certified copies can be had on payment of the prescribed fees. Fees are set in fee units: a personal search of the index of names, a computer print-out of one folio, or an official search with a certificate, each for one piece of land at a time. There is no bulk owner file and no public price register. Lusaka itself publishes no open assessment roll.
Is ownership public?Public, but one paid search at a time
Cost of one title searchUnder SI 21 of 2004 (Cap. 185, First Schedule, Category V): 56 fee units for a personal search of the index of names; 139 fee units for a computer print-out of a folio; 556 fee units for an official search of a folio with a certificate. The kwacha value of a fee unit was not verified here.
Bulk ownership dataNone published
Sale pricesNo transaction data published
Sites that forbid taking their data
- zambialii.org — “Content-Signal: ai-train=no, search=yes, ai-input=no — 'ANY RESTRICTIONS EXPRESSED VIA CONTENT SIGNALS ARE EXPRESS RESERVATIONS OF RIGHTS' (robots.txt). We did not read the statute pages there; we used the Parliament and FAOLEX copies instead.”
- commons.laws.africa — “robots.txt: User-agent: * Disallow: /”
- zamportal.gov.zm — “You will not copy, modify, reproduce, republish, distribute, display, or transmit for commercial, non-profit or public purposes all or any portion of www.zamportal.gov.zm, except to the extent permitted by the copyright policy of this terms of use.”
- hyprop.co.za — “Hyprop authorises you to view and download the materials at this Site for your personal, non-commercial use … You may not modify the materials at this Site in any way or reproduce or publicly display, perform, or distribute or otherwise use them for any public or commercial purpose.”
1
The marquee buildings
The towers that set the tone of the core, and who holds them. A price is the price a document states, on the date it states — not an estimate of what the building is worth now.
| Building | Use | Owner | Owner type | Last price paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EastPark Mall Stand No 5005, corner of Great East Road and Thabo Mbeki Road, Lusaka 67,286 m² GLA on a 144,044 m² (about 14 ha) site, 26,100 m² undeveloped |
Retail | Graduare Property Development Limited (leaseholder; 51% being acquired by Real Estate Investments Zambia PLC from Graduare Mauritius Limited) 51% to REIZ (approved by shareholders 30 Jul 2026) REIZ's 9 Jul 2026 LuSE circular calls EastPark 'Zambia's largest retail shopping centre' and Graduare 'the company that wholly owns EastPark Mall'. The land is not Graduare's: 'The Council of the University of Zambia (UNZA) is the beneficial owner and landlord of the land… Stand No 5005'. UNZA leased it to Graduare under a PPP contract that lets Graduare 'build, own, and operate' for a royalty. The two leases run 25 years from 1 Jan 2013 (to 2038, renewable for 25 more) and 50 years (to 2063). Occupancy was 99.2% in Jan 2026 and annualised gross rent USD 15.0M. The circular classes it a 'Category 1 Related Party' transaction. |
Private company | USD 46.41 million for 51% 2026-07 Agreed enterprise value USD 138.8M, equity value USD 91.0M; Fairworld valued it at USD 160.268M. Approved at REIZ's EGM on 30 Jul 2026. A |
| Arcades Shopping Centre Great East Road at Thabo Mbeki Road, Lusaka (next to EastPark Mall) 22,686 m² GLA (retail/office) |
Retail | Arcades Development PLC (100% subsidiary of Real Estate Investments Zambia PLC) REIZ's circular calls Arcades its 'current flagship property', 27.3% of the portfolio by value. It says Arcades 'struggled to retain market competitiveness in the past'. The first refurbishment phase was completed in 2018 at USD 6.2M, funded by a USD 5.2M Stanbic loan and USD 1M of equity. The circular lists open lawsuits between Arcades Development PLC and tenants, and an appeal against an award of K750,000 in damages in a case involving Alliance Media and Lusaka City Council. REIZ was approved as a REIT in July 2024. |
REIT | USD 10,000,000 in REIZ equity to Arcades' shareholders, part-financed by USD 15M of term loans 2012-02 As REIZ's circular states its own history; valued at ZMW 659,560,831 (USD 29.8M) at 31 Dec 2025. A |
| Manda Hill Shopping Centre Great East Road, Lusaka about 42,000 m² of retail space, 120+ retailers |
Retail | Growthpoint Investec African Properties (GIAP) 100% (as acquired in 2019) GIAP's own release (5 Aug 2019, reposted by Sandton Central) says it 'successfully concluded the acquisition of 100% of Manda Hill Shopping Centre', bought from AttAfrica, a joint venture of the JSE-listed REITs Attacq and Hyprop. GIAP was set up by Growthpoint Properties and Investec Asset Management. Hyprop's 2019 integrated report confirms that after 30 June 2019 'Hyprop Mauritius (50%) and AttAfrica (50%) disposed of their interests in Manda Hill' and gives the c. USD 50M figure for Hyprop's share. Tier B: buyer from GIAP's release, price from Hyprop. We found no later filing showing whether GIAP still holds the centre in 2026. |
Private equity | not disclosed by the buyer; Hyprop's 50% share of net sale proceeds was approximately USD 50 million 2019-08 Sellers: Hyprop Mauritius (50%) and AttAfrica (50%), with certain minority shareholders. B |
| Cosmopolitan Mall Lusaka 25,799 m² GLA (en.wikipedia list) |
Retail | Grit Real Estate Income Group Limited Grit's portfolio page: 'Grit holds three retail assets in its Zambian portfolio' — Cosmopolitan Mall (Lusaka), Kafubu Mall (Ndola) and Mukuba Mall (Kitwe). Grit is listed in London and Mauritius. The page gives no percentage stake and no price, so neither is shown. Floor area from English Wikipedia's list of Zambian shopping centres. |
Public company | —B |
| Levy Junction Mall (Levy Business Park: mall, offices and hotel) Lusaka about 28,000 m² (mall, en.wikipedia list) |
Mixed use | Not established the source would not open Search-result snippets of NAPSA's 'real assets' page list 'Levy Business Park comprising of the office complex, mall and hotel' among its commercial properties, and a 2011 Engineering News profile names Liberty Properties and NAPSA as the clients. But napsa.co.zm serves an Incapsula bot challenge, which we did not get past, and engineeringnews.co.za refused its terms pages. Because no source we could open states the owner, it is left blank. NAPSA (National Pension Scheme Authority) is the likely candidate, but that is unconfirmed. |
Not established | —C |
| FINDECO House Cairo Road at Independence Avenue, Lusaka CBD |
Office | Not established a paid title search would answer it Zambia's tallest building: 90 m (295 ft), 23 floors, built 1978–79 to a design by Yugoslav architects. English Wikipedia says it is named after the parastatal FINDECO (State Finance and Development Corporation), 'the initial owner of the building', and that it 'is currently under the management of the National Housing Authority'. Management is not ownership, and no open document names the current titleholder. Finding out would take an official search of its folio at the Lands and Deeds Registry. |
Not established | —A |
| Parliament Buildings (National Assembly of Zambia) Parliament Road, off Great East Road, Lusaka building covers about one hectare, on four main levels |
Civic | Republic of Zambia (National Assembly) The National Assembly's own history page says a 'more fitting Parliament building' was needed after independence. It was built 'on the crown of a low hill in Lusaka', once 'the dwelling place of village Headman Lusaka, after whom the City of Lusaka is now named', and 'covers about one hectare'. The page does not state title. Tier B: State ownership rests on the Lands Act, Cap. 184 s.3 (source s14), which vests all land in Zambia in the President 'for and on behalf of the people of Zambia', together with the building being Parliament's own seat. No price or folio is published. |
Government | —B |
| National Heroes Stadium Great East Road, Lusaka (beside Independence Stadium and Heroes Acre) 60,000 seats |
Civic | Not established a paid title search would answer it English Wikipedia: a 60,000-seat multi-purpose stadium built 2011–2014 by Shanghai Construction Group at a cost of US$94 million, opened in 2014. It stands next to the refurbished Independence Stadium and the Heroes Acre memorial to the 1993 Gabon air-disaster team. No source we opened states who owns it. It is widely taken to be State property, but that is not established here. |
Not established | —A |
2
The core land
The most valuable ground in the city, and what the public record says about it.
No assessment roll is published, so the most valuable ground can only be read from listed-company valuations. These cluster in the Great East Road corridor: Arcades, EastPark and Manda Hill all stand within a short distance of Parliament.
EastPark Mall, agreed enterprise valueUSD 138.8 million
REIZ circular, 9 Jul 2026. The independent valuer Fairworld put market value at USD 160.268M; the equity value is USD 91.0M.
EastPark Mall rentUSD 18.59 per m² per month; USD 15.0M annualised gross rent; 99.2% occupied
REIZ circular, Table 1-1, January 2026.
Arcades Shopping Centre, valuationZMW 659,560,831 (USD 29.8M) for 22,686 m² GLA
REIZ circular, Table 2-4, valuations at 31 Dec 2025.
REIZ portfolio, 11 propertiesZMW 2,418,584,520 (USD 109.3M) for 88,346 m² GLA
REIZ circular, Table 2-4, at 31 Dec 2025.
3
Who owns the town
At this scale the significant owner is rarely a trust or a fund: it is one or two local holding companies, a family in its second or third generation, and often the land around the town rather than the buildings in it.
In law, the State holds all the land. The Lands Act vests every piece of land in Zambia 'absolutely in the President… in perpetuity for and on behalf of the people of Zambia'. Private parties hold leaseholds, normally of no more than 99 years, rather than freehold. So the real question in Lusaka is who holds the head leases. The documents we could open show public institutions as head landlords: the University of Zambia under EastPark Mall, the State's airport company at the airport. Private capital sits on top as leaseholders and listed landlords.
| Name | Type | Holdings |
|---|---|---|
| Republic of Zambia (land vested in the President) Lands Act, Cap. 184, s.3(1): 'all land in Zambia shall vest absolutely in the President and shall be held by him in perpetuity for and on behalf of the people of Zambia'. Under s.3(2) the President may alienate land to any Zambian. Under s.3(6) land may not be alienated for 'a term exceeding ninety-nine years' except in the national interest. 'State Land' is defined as land not in a customary area. |
Government | all land in ZambiaA |
| University of Zambia (The Council of the University of Zambia) REIZ's 2026 circular: UNZA 'is the beneficial owner and landlord of the land on which EastPark Mall is situated - Stand No 5005 Lusaka'. Its leases to Graduare, dated 2014 and 2017, run to 2038 and 2063 under a PPP contract governed by the Public-Private Partnership Act No. 18 of 2023, and Graduare pays UNZA a royalty. The transaction needed UNZA's consent (Annexure 12). The size of UNZA's whole Great East Road campus estate was not found. |
Institution | Stand No 5005, about 14 ha (144,044 m²), under EastPark MallA |
| Zambia Airports Corporation Limited (ZACL) ZACL's 2023 annual report says it is 'wholly owned by the Government of the Republic of Zambia' and develops, manages and maintains four designated international airports, Kenneth Kaunda International (KKIA) among them, and seven provincial ones. KKIA's new terminal was 100% complete by end-2023. English Wikipedia puts KKIA in Chongwe District, about 27 km north-east of central Lusaka. The airport is therefore outside the city and is not listed as a Lusaka building. Wikipedia also gives the owner as the Government of Zambia and the 2015 expansion as US$360M, borrowed from Exim Bank of China. (Location, owner and loan figure from s18.) |
Government | property, plant and equipment K839,968,343 (31 Dec 2023), across 4 international and 7 provincial airportsB |
| National Housing Authority (NHA) NHA's About page describes it as 'a government organization established in 1971 to develop and regulate housing across Zambia'. One of its statutory functions is 'the management and control of Government-owned houses and housing estates as may be prescribed'. English Wikipedia says NHA manages FINDECO House, Zambia's tallest building. NHA publishes no figure for its stock or land holdings. (FINDECO detail from s12.) |
Government | not stated: manages government-owned houses and housing estatesB |
5
Who builds the houses
New-home building in this market: the volume, and the firms behind it. Ownership of a builder matters as much as its volume — a private-equity platform and a family firm behave differently.
Zambia has no league table of home builders. What the record shows is the State's housing body, the National Housing Authority, building small numbers of rental and rent-to-own units, and large schemes announced with foreign partners. Most Lusaka housing is self-built on leasehold plots or in unplanned settlements, so no builder's figure describes the market. The figures below are the builders' own announcements, not completions.
| Name | Type | Units |
|---|---|---|
| National Housing Authority (NHA) NHA's projects page lists the Trees Inn housing complex for NAPSA's staff pension scheme, 69 housing units, under 'recently completed'. It proposes 150 rental units at the incomplete former Zamtel flats and 25 at the Nyumba Yanga block yard. Its national target is 'a minimum of 5,000 housing units per year', rent-to-own over 25 years, seeking US$116M a year for seven years. |
Government | 69 units (Trees Inn, Makeni, Lusaka); 175 rental units proposed (Lake Road and Nyumba Yanga, K193.375M)A |
| Ongos Valley Development (Pty) Ltd (Namibia), with the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development and NHA NHA notice of 3 Feb 2025 registering buyers: 'A total of 10,000 housing units will be constructed at Lusaka South MFEZ, with the first 2000 housing to be constructed beginning June 2025', in low-, medium- and high-cost categories, for purchase or rent-to-buy. This is a plan; no completions were found. |
Private company | 10,000 units planned at Lusaka South MFEZ; first 2,000 from June 2025A |
6
Commercial landlords
The commercial side, counted separately from housing: who holds the office, retail and industrial floor area.
Lusaka's investment-grade commercial stock is mostly shopping centres. These are owned by a single listed local REIT (REIZ) and by pan-African funds based in Mauritius and South Africa (GIAP, Grit). South Africa's Hyprop and Attacq left Zambia in 2019. Leases are largely in US dollars: 94% of EastPark's lease income is quoted in USD.
| Name | Type | Floor area |
|---|---|---|
| Real Estate Investments Zambia PLC (REIZ) Zambia's only listed property company, approved as a REIT in July 2024. Its portfolio: Arcades, Acacia Park, Lewanika Mall, Jacaranda Mall, Central Park, Counting House Square, Abacus House, Eureka Park, Southview Park, Nyerere Road and Dedan Kimathi. Rental income was ZMW 326.7M in 2025. Forli Limited (30.90%) and Uhambo Holdings Limited (30.66%), former owners of the malls bought in 2023, are its largest shareholders; free float is 7.12% (15 May 2026). Shareholders approved buying 51% of EastPark Mall on 30 Jul 2026. |
REIT | 88,346 m² GLA, 11 properties, ZMW 2,418,584,520 (USD 109.3M) at 31 Dec 2025, before adding EastPark's 67,286 m²A |
| Graduare Property Development Limited Wholly owns EastPark Mall, through the lease of UNZA land. Its parent is Graduare Mauritius Limited, which is selling 51% to REIZ for USD 46.41M (enterprise value USD 138.8M). |
Private company | 67,286 m² GLA (EastPark Mall)A |
| Growthpoint Investec African Properties (GIAP) A joint venture of Growthpoint Properties and Investec Asset Management. It bought 100% of Manda Hill in August 2019, backed by capital commitments of more than US$212M from institutional investors. Its current (2026) holding was not confirmed. |
Private equity | about 42,000 m² (Manda Hill)A |
| Grit Real Estate Income Group Limited Grit's portfolio page lists Cosmopolitan Mall in Lusaka, Kafubu Mall in Ndola and Mukuba Mall in Kitwe. No stake or area is given on that page. |
Public company | 3 retail assets in Zambia, 1 of them in Lusaka (Cosmopolitan Mall)A |
?
Looked for and not found
Claims this page would have made if a source could be opened. They are left out rather than guessed.
- The kwacha value of a fee unit. A law-firm note found by search (not opened) says SI 41 of 2015 raised it from K0.20 to K0.30. At K0.30, an official search with a certificate (556 fee units) would cost about K166.80 and a folio print-out (139 fee units) about K41.70. ZambiaLII holds the consolidation, but its robots.txt reserves ai-input, so we did not read it.
- Whether the 2004 fee schedule has since been replaced. The Parliament copy of Cap. 185 prints an older, lower schedule; amending Acts 40 of 2010 and 39 of 2021 were not read.
- Levy Junction Mall / Levy Business Park: search snippets attribute it to NAPSA, but napsa.co.zm is behind an Incapsula challenge.
- Whether GIAP still holds Manda Hill in 2026.
- Grit's percentage stake in Cosmopolitan Mall.
- Owners of the Taj Pamodzi and InterContinental hotels. Wikipedia's LuSE article says Taj Pamodzi Hotel delisted from LuSE in 2024. No owner was established.
- Owners of National Heroes Stadium, the University Teaching Hospital (beds: 1,655, per en.wikipedia) and the Government Complex, presumed to be State property but not documented.
- Lusaka City Council's own land holdings: no published figure was found.
- Nkwashi (Thebe Investment Management, 8,800 planned houses per search snippets) lies outside Lusaka's city boundary and is not included.
§
Sources
- The Lands and Deeds Registry Act, Cap. 185 (Laws of Zambia), s. 22 'Registry open for search' and s. 23 'Official certificates of search' — National Assembly of Zambia · openA
- Statutory Instrument No. 21 of 2004 — Lands and Deeds Registry (Amendment) Regulations, 2004 (First Schedule: prescribed fees) — Government of Zambia, via FAOLEX (FAO) · openA
- Statutory Instrument No. 53 of 2013 — Lands and Deeds Registry (Amendment) Regulations, 2013 (Categories I and II) — Government of Zambia, via FAOLEX (FAO) · openA
- Statutory Instrument No. 24 of 2005 — Lands and Deeds Registry (Amendment) Regulations, 2005 — Government of Zambia, via FAOLEX (FAO) · openA
- Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources — home page (ZILAS, Lands & Deeds Registry services, payments via Zamportal) — Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources · openA
- National Land Audit (pilot, Nansanga Farm Block) — Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources · openA
- REIZ circular to shareholders: acquisition of 51% of Graduare Property Development Limited (EastPark Mall), 138 pp. — Real Estate Investments Zambia PLC, via Lusaka Securities Exchange SENS · openA
- Growthpoint Investec African Properties steps up its acquisition trail in Africa (press release, 5 Aug 2019) — Sandton Central Management District (reposting GIAP's release) · openA
- Hyprop Investments Limited Integrated Annual Report 2019 (sub-Saharan Africa portfolio; Manda Hill disposal) — Hyprop Investments Limited · openA
- Our Property Portfolio — Grit Real Estate Income Group Limited · openA
- List of shopping centres in Zambia — Wikipedia · openA
- FINDECO House — Wikipedia · openA
- Parliament Buildings History; Visiting parliament — National Assembly of Zambia · openA
- The Lands Act, Cap. 184 (Laws of Zambia), s. 3 'All land to vest in the President' — National Assembly of Zambia · openA
- National Heroes Stadium — Wikipedia · openA
- REIZ results of the Extraordinary General Meeting held on 30 July 2026 — Real Estate Investments Zambia PLC, via Lusaka Securities Exchange SENS · openA
- ZACL Annual Report 2023 — Zambia Airports Corporation Limited · openA
- Kenneth Kaunda International Airport — Wikipedia · openA
- About NHA — National Housing Authority · openA
- Projects (current, recently completed and proposed) — National Housing Authority · openA
- Registration of off-takers for the upcoming housing project at Lusaka South Multifacility Economic Zone (LS-MFEZ) — National Housing Authority · openA
- Lusaka Securities Exchange — Wikipedia · openA
- University Teaching Hospital — Wikipedia · openA