Two new reports have painted a glossy picture of the future of Africa’s wood coatings market as the continent races towards achieving a combined coatings market of 1.7 million tons by 2018 on the back of an anticipated GPD growth of more than 4.5 percent.

Consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and market analyst Future Market Insights (FMI), have in separate reports indicated how Africa is set to enjoy growth in the residential property market and how the increased production and supply of wood protection products will continue to be driven by the residential end-user market.

PWC said increasing urban population will create huge demand for residential property across Africa fuelling the rise in demand for wood protection products particularly paints and stains as more of these properties crave for modern furniture and cabinets and better fences, siding, floors and decks.

“The growing urban populations will increase demand for affordable housing, while a burgeoning middle-class will drive demand for more mid-range properties,” the consultancy firm said in its report titled “Real Estate: Building the future of Africa.”

PWC said large cities in the continent such as Nairobi, Kinshasa and Dar es Salaam, “are expected to see population growth of over 70 percent by 2025.”

The report said Nigeria alone will add 7.6 million middle-class households, followed by Ghana with 1.6 million while Angola and Sudan will add one million middle-class households each.

“The burgeoning middle-class urban populations in Africa will need far more housing,” said PWC, adding that “residential real estate will become more specialized, with local and cultural differences influencing how this evolves.”

To expand the residential property market in Africa, the analysis said more listed property funds are likely to loosen their purses and financially back the new developments with residential holdings, which make up 2.5 percent of the listed property funds, set to increase financing by 2030.

A separate global analysis by FMI on the wood coatings market said the growth of the residential property market will be the main driver of the wood protection products supply trends in the coming five years.

FMI said “residential end-user is the largest market for wood protection, driven by maintenance demand for items such as fences, sidings and decks.”

Overall, FMI said furniture, decking and siding are the three largest applications in value terms although “smaller doors, windows and cabinet applications are expected to achieve faster growth in the near future.”

Globally the analyst said “paint is the dominant wood protection product used on siding, windows and doors but stains and sealers are more widely utilized on cabinets, decks, furniture and flooring.”

In Africa, projected growth in the housing market will be the main driver of increased use of wood protection products for the next five years.

Several initiatives by both governments and the private sector have been launched to develop millions of housing units in sub-Saharan Africa opening new fronts for the makers and suppliers of wood coating products as demand for quality furniture, decking, siding, small doors, windows and cabinet applications is set to soar.

For example, the World Bank’s lending arm International Finance Corporation has partnered with Chinese multinational CITIC Construction Ltd. to set up a $300 million investment forum for the developing of at least 30,000 housing units across Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria over the next five years. The units are just a drop in the ocean when one considers that Kenya alone is short of two million housing units while Nigeria needs an additional 17 million units.

FMI said: “The growth in the housing market is the primary driver for the wood coatings market as homeowners are investing more in the upkeep of their decks, floors and siding.”

“Sustained demand from development markets and burgeoning demand from emerging economies will continue to drive the wood coatings market,” FMI predicted.

And according to PWC the significant housing investment shortfall has created opportunities for private sector investors and that Africa’s fast-growing young population will drive demand for a different type of real estate such as student housing.

Like in the rest of the world wood coatings markets, Africa’s growth is likely to be stimulated by “stringent regulations, rising competition, growth in unique formulations and new product developments.”