PROPERTY developers are shortening payment terms and shelving long-term projects as uncertainty over Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) and a possible shift to a mono-currency regime rattles confidence.
Despite assurances from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) that foreign currency-denominated assets and transactions will be protected, industry players said fears of exchange rate losses are already reshaping investment decisions.
In its February 2026 Monetary Policy Statement, the RBZ guaranteed that foreign currency deals and listed equities would not be forcibly converted under a mono-currency system.
However, developers said policy ambiguity remained a major constraint on long-term planning.
“Several regulatory and policy interventions are urgently needed to unlock growth. Uncertainty remains the single biggest obstacle as I have stated before in other conversations,” Property Developers Association of Zimbabwe interim chairperson Arnold Khanda told businessdigest.
“Developers are capping payment terms and scaling back long-range plans over fears that the adoption of Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) as the sole currency by 2030 will trigger exchange rate losses.”
Property development typically involves investment cycles of three to five years, leaving firms exposed to currency volatility over extended periods.
“It is not that we are betting on the ZiG falling but as they say ‘Once bitten, twice shy’. Property development is a long-term business, with returns typically coming after three to five years,” Khanda said.
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“The project planning cycle is typically five years. Currently, all sales contracts are in US dollars, and most developers are only offering terms up to 2030 to avoid exchange risk.”
Zimbabwe’s history of hyperinflation continues to shape behaviour.
Past currency collapses have eroded savings and left firms wary of prolonged exposure to local currency risk.
Khanda said clearer policy direction was needed.
“The governor gave some indication as to how the transition was not going to be one instantaneous move and how grandfather clauses will still be honoured in US dollars. But we have had proclamations coming out of that office… that turned out to be completely false,” he said.
“The truth is until the governor and the Ministry of Finance issue a clear and precise roadmap backed by a proclamation from the President in the form of a statutory instrument, no one knows whether the US dollar will still be legal tender beyond 2030.”
