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LeadAfrik
Intermediate · Self-paced2026 Edition

Real Estate Finance & Investment

Real estate as an asset class — valuation, financing, underwriting, REITs, development, and the legal and operational layers that make property different from every other investment. Built with African-market grounding (Kenyan title law, NSE-listed REITs, the Nairobi office cycle) on top of universal real-estate fundamentals.

12

Modules

~11h 40m

Reading time

Intermediate

Level

Self-paced

Format

§

Syllabus

  1. 01

    Why real estate is its own asset class

    What makes property different from stocks and bonds — location-bound, illiquid, long-cycle, leverage-heavy — and why African real estate is its own subject inside that.

    ~50 minModule 01
    →
  2. 02

    How to value a building

    The three core approaches (income, comparable sales, cost), the NOI bridge, and the cap-rate-as-yield logic that holds the whole industry together.

    ~65 minModule 02
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  3. 03

    The mathematics of real-estate cash flows

    From gross potential income to free cash flow to equity. Cash-on-cash, unlevered IRR, levered IRR, DSCR, LTV — the metrics every deal memo carries.

    ~60 minModule 03
    →
  4. 04

    Mortgages and real-estate finance

    Amortisation mechanics line by line. Fixed vs variable, prepayment risk, LTV-driven underwriting, and why the Kenyan mortgage market is so small (and what KMRC is trying to change).

    ~55 minModule 04
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  5. 05

    Capital structure: senior, mezz, pref, common

    How a real-estate deal is sliced: senior debt, mezzanine, preferred equity, common equity. LP/GP waterfalls, promote, the leverage paradox.

    ~60 minModule 05
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  6. 06

    Underwriting a deal end-to-end

    Building the full pro forma, sensitivity tables, stress testing, going-in vs going-out cap rate — and what separates an OK deal from a real one.

    ~70 minModule 06
    →
  7. 07

    REITs — public real estate

    What a REIT is structurally and legally. P/FFO vs NAV, discount-to-NAV trades, and a close look at NSE-listed ILAM Fahari and Acorn Student Accommodation.

    ~60 minModule 07
    →
  8. 08

    Development — building from the ground up

    Development pro forma vs operating pro forma. Hard cost vs soft cost. Construction draws, lease-up risk, why developers fail.

    ~65 minModule 08
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  9. 09

    Property law in Kenya

    Constitution 2010, Land Act 2012, the National Land Commission, sectional titles, and why title due diligence is the single most-important step in any Kenyan transaction.

    ~55 minModule 09
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  10. 10

    Property management and operations

    What a manager actually does. Lease structures (gross, NNN, modified gross). Tenant retention economics. The Kenyan rental market and M-Pesa rent.

    ~50 minModule 10
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  11. 11

    Real-estate market analysis

    Supply (pipeline, absorption, completions). Demand (employment, demographics, household formation). The four-phase market cycle. Reading the 2014-2024 Nairobi office oversupply.

    ~55 minModule 11
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  12. 12

    Where real estate is going — PropTech, climate, the next 10 years

    Physical climate risk, prop-fi and M-Pesa-enabled property platforms, the institutionalisation of African real estate, and the working analyst's weekly reading list.

    ~55 minModule 12
    →

How to use this course

Start with module 01 if the material is new; skip ahead if you have prior exposure. Each module is self-contained but the arc is sequential — the projects in the final module assume the toolkit from modules 1-11. Every module ends with key takeaways and a curated further-reading list with primary sources.