Monthly Blog- May 2025

James Whitmee

This week I am in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. I have an office/land project, and am staying in Mamba Point but looking across the city to include the areas of Capitol Hill, Sinkor and Congo Town.

I am finding very little availability of quality offices. It is for this reason that build-to-leasing is a feature of this market, having been undertaken recently for Orange, IB Bank and Embassy of Ireland.

Grade B offices are generally attracting rents in the order of USD 7-15 /sq m /month, with Grade A in a range of USD 15-25 /sq m /month.

Land is problematic in this market. Historically, Liberia's Constitution restricted land ownership to Liberian citizens, effectively barring foreign entities from owning land outright.

However, there have been material legal reforms. Now, while foreign companies can own freehold property in Liberia under specific conditions outlined in the Land Rights Act, this ownership is contingent upon the land being used for its intended purpose. Failure to do so can result in forfeiture of the ownership.