Real estate professionals and investors consistently seek updated and accurate reports on the real estate sector to make informed decisions in their daily operations and also provide valuable advice to their clients. It's evident that while most available real estate reports in Uganda are doing a very good job, they focus on Kampala where the major players operate.

However, many real estate professionals are eager for reports that encompass a broader scope, covering regions beyond Kampala. This is crucial, as there are numerous buyers and sellers with interests extending beyond the confines of Kampala.

Data reporting challenges.

At the Real Estate Database (RED), we have identified two significant challenges in aggregating real estate data into reports. First, the lack of specialized manpower and the capacity to invest time and resources in researching and processing vast amounts of data. Second, the online analytics data often contains a vast number outliers due to speculation, complicating the data processing task. Identifying and excluding these outliers is crucial to presenting accurate market trends.

Real estate companies withholding their data.

Some of the reports from private companies are generally believed to be primarily for marketing or publicity purposes, which is a smart move internally, however, this inclination limits the report to just a few data points as these companies are hesitant to share all their valuable data with competitors for free, Instead, their objective is to generate interest in their premium data or to showcase their products and services in the context of a report. This approach is known as content marketing and has proven to be effective thus far.

I recently contacted one of the companies that released a report for Kampala. I aimed to gain clarity on the classification of commercial buildings into Class A, B, or C. However, the research representative responded by stating that they do not disclose information on the meaning of different classes to the public.

He also mentioned that clarification on the classification of a commercial building is only provided when contracted for classification services. Consequently, I was unable to comprehend their classification criteria, and I still lack distinctions between the different classes within their reports.

I could not even obtain an example of a Class-A or Class-B building to enhance my understanding of the report. Subsequent research on my part revealed that the classification of commercial spaces is subjective and changes over time, and as a result, any two reports could likely provide different classifications for the same commercial building.

AREA Uganda has made previous attempts to gather property sales data from its members, aiming to establish a central source of investment-related information and facilitate performance assessments for award purposes. However, these efforts appear to have faced challenges in gaining traction, primarily due to the reluctance of real estate companies to share their hard-earned data.

The reporting format.

The current reporting format for many reports appears to allocate three-quarters of the content to the general economic situation of the region or country, directly copied from other national reports. Only one quarter of the report is dedicated to the real estate sector. I believe this allocation should be reversed. Ideally, a larger portion of the report should focus on the real estate sector, given that the report is intended to be a real estate report, not an economic report on GDP of the region.

In a recent report I read, real estate-specific information was conspicuously absent until the last part of the report, which was predominantly occupied by a display of services and products offered by the reporting entity. This experience has reinforced my perspective that the emphasis in real estate reports should be on the sector itself, ensuring that readers receive substantial and pertinent information on real estate related data throughout the document.

In contrast, when examining the 'Real Estate Market Outlook' reports from Realtor.com in the USA, one will notice a greater emphasis on real estate-focused data compared to national data for other sectors. This is not to suggest that Uganda should be on par with the USA; however, benchmarking or comparing with what others are doing can be beneficial for improvement.

Some of the trending reports in Uganda include the following:

• Kampala Metropolitan Real Estate Report (by Stanbic Properties).
• The Kampala Property Market Performance Review (by Knight Frank)
• Residential Property Price Indices and Inflation (by UBOS)
• Property Market Report (by Myrtle Concepts)
• RED Analytics Report (by Real Estate Database - RED)

The Dilemma of Tax Data.

Tax data would have been the most optimal choice for benchmarking property value analytics. However, it is common knowledge that many buyers and sellers provide inaccurate selling or buying prices to minimize tax payments. This practice renders tax records unreliable as a metric for assessing market performance based on pricing.

Voices and efforts from the Industry.

Catherine Nanteza from AREA Uganda recently voiced her concerns on social media, expressing the need for market performance information in various parts of the country. This sentiment resonates with many other real estate professionals. However, there is a crucial need for such professionals to articulate specific information and formatting preferences, they need to answer several key questions regarding what their needs are so that they can get the type of reports they want.

In an effort to broaden their reporting, I have observed that Knight Frank Uganda is currently offering insights on towns within Greater Kampala and extending their coverage to places as distant as Nabbingo, situated approximately 15 kilometers south of Kampala along the Kampala-Masaka-Mbarara highway. This commendable initiative has been publicized under the hashtag #CommuterTownsReport.

Engaging the Industry: Key Questions.

To facilitate meaningful discussions regarding the necessity of countrywide reporting, we have formulated several questions. Answering these questions will offer insights into the requirements of the data consumers and real estate professionals:

1. What key real estate metrics or analytics would you like to see included in a market report for other parts of the country?
2. Are you more interested in metrics at the neighborhood level, district level, or averages at the country level?
3. Do you prefer a graphical (infographic) report for a quick snapshot or a text/essay-style report for detailed explanations?
4. What additional real estate metrics do you believe are missing from existing market reports?
5. Is focusing on metrics for the real estate agency business sufficient, or should one entity provide metrics for different real estate segments? (eg Construction/development reports, Property management reports,  Investment/Finance reports, Appraisal/Valuation reports, PropTech reports, etc)

All these questions aim to stimulate discussions on what the market needs in reports for regions beyond Kampala. To view a live sample report in infographic format that is currently in development, click here, or click here for an image report. The report primarily focuses on property demand analytics based on online clicks and visits.