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Are you a young professional or an intern trying to relocate to Addis Ababa from another part of Ethiopia or from a foreign country? If you are, you are probably wondering what kind of options are available for you in terms of apartments for rent in Addis Ababa. You can’t help it but also wonder if the rental price of apartments in Addis Ababa is affordable to you. If you are a more senior professional with big size rent allowance or subsidy, who is interested only in renting a villa in Addis Ababa, this article is not for you. However, you can read the article below this one, which offers a few tips on how to find houses for rent in Addis Ababa easily. Before we get down to the nitty-gritty of finding an apartment in Addis Ababa, let’s first discuss the home rental market of Addis Ababa in general and a few things one must take into consideration before jumping into searching for an apartment for rent in Addis Ababa.

Shocking realities about the Addis housing market
Who would believe that Addis Ababa is one of the most expensive cities, not only in Africa but also in the world, when it comes to home rentals? As shocking as it is, it is absolutely true. According to annual housing survey reports conducted and released by reputable international relocation or corporate mobility companies, Ethiopia’s Addis Ababa and Angola’s Luanda are among the “most expensive” cities that top the list year after year although both are in third world countries. Every expatriate moving to Addis Ababa gets shocked when they find out that there are apartments that go for up to $6,000 per month in Addis Ababa. Similarly, the fact that there are villas that go for up to $35,000 per month is simply mind boggling to anyone who is not familiar with the Addis Ababa housing market. Hence, one must consider the following points before embarking on a search for an apartment for rent in Addis Ababa.

Budget considerations
For most Ethiopian young professionals, leasing an apartment in Addis Ababa is totally out of reach. However, if you are among the few lucky ones with good financial standing, your primary choice should be finding a suitable apartment unit for you in one of the apartment complexes that were built by an individual landlord or one of the renowned real estate developers in Addis Ababa. You should expect to pay at least $500 per month if you want to rent such units. If you are someone with decent monthly income but have many other priorities in life than spending a huge chunk of your earnings on rent, finding an apartment for rent in Addis Ababa that you can afford is not going to be so easy. Hence, you should probably consider leasing a condominium at one of the many residential villages developed by the Addis Ababa City Administration across Addis Ababa under the affordable housing scheme. The quality of the majority of the condos is not up to standard but it is not impossible to find decent options if one persists.

If you are an expatriate relocating to Ethiopia to work for an international nonprofit or for profit organization based in Addis Ababa, you stand a much better chance of finding a decent apartment for rent in Addis Ababa within your budget than the majority of Ethiopians in your age group or professional category. This is because most of such employers offer great housing allowance to their expatriate staff, a privilege usually not available to the local staff. Hence, you should be able to lease a nice apartment in downtown Addis Ababa at fairly good rate for Addis standards. If you do not wish to spend a lot on rent, you can find a decent place within a range of $1,000 and $2,500. If you want something simple yet modern and well finished, you will need to spend $3,000 to $4,000 per month. If having a place that has some kind of “wow factor”, you should be willing to spend anywhere between $4,500 and $6,000 per month to lease an apartment in Addis Ababa.

Size considerations
Most apartment buildings in Addis Ababa that have been developed by the private sector have 1 to 3 bedroom apartments for rent in Addis Ababa. Studios and apartments with 4 or more bedrooms, on the other hand are in limited supply. The same is true for the apartment options built by the government. The average size of gross area of typical one, two and three bedroom apartments for lease in Addis Ababa is as follows.
1 bedroom: 50-65 Sq M
2 bedroom: 75-90 Sq M
3 bedroom: 100 – 400 Sq M

When it comes to the condominium units in the projects, studio, one, two, three and four bedroom options are available. The areal size of the units varies based on the types of development scheme the properties were developed under, which is highlighted below.

Units Built Under the 10/90 & 20/80 Condominium Development Scheme:
Studios: 29-38 Sq M
1 bedroom: 46-50 Sq M
2 bedroom: 65-75 Sq M
3 bedroom: 86-115 Sq M

Units Built Under the 40/60 Condominium Development Scheme
2 bedroom: 126 Sq M
3 bedroom: 156 Sq M
4 bedroom: 169 Sq M

Besides other considerations, the information provided above should let you determine which type of option best suites your need of an apartment for rent in Addis Ababa depending on your space requirement.

Location considerations
If you are an expatriate and your preference is to stay in areas that are popular among most expatriates and affluent Ethiopians, you should consider centrally located areas, where all kinds of amenities and top service providers can easily be accessed. Picking a conveniently located apartment for rent in Addis Ababa is very important for most expatriates in Addis Ababa; hence neighborhoods such as Bole, Kazanchis, Old Airport, Sarbet, Aware, Kebena, Mesqel Flower, Wello Safer, Tele Bole and the likes are among the highly sought after neighborhoods in Addis Ababa. However, the rental prices in these neighborhoods is quite high and unaffordable to some expats and most Addis Ababaians. If you do not mind a bit longer to get to work, your kids school and other important places to you, your savings will be amazing by getting an apartment for rent in Addis Ababa’s newer neighborhoods such as Lebu, Mekanissa, CMC, Summit, Ayat, Yerer, Bole Bulbula, Gurdsholla, etc.
If you are a local with limited budget, you should not waste your time looking to lease a flat in Bole, Old Airport, and other neighborhoods, which are at the same level as these two. Another article that we will post shortly will offer some helpful tips on how to and where to find apartments for rent in Addis Ababa for those looking for affordable options.

Quality considerations
More and more privately wealthy individuals are building small and high quality apartment buildings in Addis Ababa on their private or purchased pieces of land. Such buildings usually have limited number of units, which ranges between five and twenty units. Such buildings are being built in response to the high demand for top quality apartments for rent in Addis Ababa. They are usually very spacious and offer great amenities such as gymnasium, steam & sauna services, outdoor recreational area, 24/7 security, backup generator and the likes. These are very exclusive and only those who can pay premium prices can lease a unit in such apartment buildings in Addis Ababa. Some of these luxurious apartments for rent in Addis Ababa come furnished.

If you cannot afford to lease a high end apartment in Addis Ababa, you could consider looking for options in relatively larger buildings, which are in large supply. For example, apartment complexes built by Noah Real Estate and Evergrand Real Estate are of a decent quality and are more affordable. They also have options in some of the most desirable parts of Addis Ababa such as Bole and Kazanchis. Such developers usually build to sell; hence you need to find an individual owner who is willing to let you give you his/her apartment for rent in Addis Ababa at a fair price.

Tips on finding an apartment for rent in Addis Ababa that’s right for you

Find a good realtor in Addis Ababa to help you
The most efficient and effective way of finding the right apartment for rent in Addis Ababa is by working with an experienced and trustworthy real estate broker in Addis Ababa. Finding professional property agent in Addis Ababa is not usually easy. If you are not careful, you may end up getting taken advantage of by scam artists who pose as real estate professionals and prey on innocent and unsuspecting expatriates.
Ask your friends and colleagues or a liaison officer at your country’s embassy in Ethiopia to recommend you a good property broker in Addis Ababa to help you locate a nice apartment for rent in Addis Ababa.

Newspaper & magazine ads
Some landlords in Addis Ababa advertise their rental properties at local weekly and biweekly newspapers and magazines. Although the number of options you can find from such ads is quite limited, it is a good starting place especially if you do not have the budget to hire a broker to help you look for an apartment for lease in Addis Ababa.

Social media and other online platforms
If working with a real estate agent in Addis Ababa is not an option for you for any reason, social media groups and pages as well as other online platforms are the second best place any one looking for an apartment for rent in Addis Ababa can turn to. Social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube are becoming very popular platforms for landlords who wish to advertise their apartments for rent in Addis Ababa. Hence, a quick search may turn up a good number of options to choose from. Although most property websites that advertise rental properties in Addis Ababa are run by real estate consulting companies or individual brokers, who charge commission or some kind of fee for their services, there are a few classifieds where private home owners add their listings. It is sometimes tricky to tell if the advertiser is a broker or a home owner but you can ask the listing person to clarify that by making a quick phone call.

Noticeboard ads
Most grocery shops and supermarkets in Addis Ababa as well as some big international organizations like the UN agencies have public noticeboards, where people advertise their apartments for rent in Addis Ababa on. A few lucky people find and rent apartments in Addis Ababa by checking on noticeboards on regular basis.

Drive around & search
Last but not least, you could drive around your favorite neighborhoods and look for signboards on apartment buildings, where you can walk in and ask the staff if they have any apartment for rent in Addis Ababa.