Get all the data you need about the real estate market in Zanzibar
This blog post is regularly updated so that the villa purchase price data you see here always reflects the latest market conditions in Zanzibar.
In 2026, villa prices in Zanzibar range from around TZS 350 million for an entry-level property in the south to over TZS 4.8 billion for a top-tier beachfront villa in Nungwi.
That is a very wide range, and where you buy matters enormously, so this article walks you through exactly how prices break down across Zanzibar's main neighborhoods.
And if you're planning to buy a property in Zanzibar, you may want to download our real estate pack about Zanzibar.
Fact-checked and reviewed by our local expert
Grace Makoye 🇹🇿
Manager of Operations, Zinza Real Estate
A quick summary table
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Most expensive neighborhood for villas in Zanzibar | Nungwi |
| Most affordable neighborhood for villas in Zanzibar | Kizimkazi |
| Average price per square meter across all Zanzibar villa neighborhoods | TZS 7,750,000 |
| Median villa price across Zanzibar in 2026 | TZS 1,250,000,000 |
| Lowest realistic starting budget to buy a villa in Zanzibar | TZS 350,000,000 |
| Most expensive villa type in Zanzibar by bedroom count | Three-bedroom villa |
| Most affordable villa type in Zanzibar by bedroom count | One-bedroom villa |
| Average price for a one-bedroom villa in Zanzibar | TZS 1,020,000,000 |
| Average price for a two-bedroom villa in Zanzibar | TZS 1,480,000,000 |
| Average price for a three-bedroom villa in Zanzibar | TZS 2,070,000,000 |
| Price gap between the most expensive and least expensive Zanzibar neighborhood | TZS 2,550,000,000 (median property price) |
| Price dispersion across Zanzibar villa neighborhoods | Very high: top neighborhoods cost more than twice as much per square meter as the lower tier |
Get fresh and reliable information about the market in Zanzibar
Don't base significant investment decisions on outdated data. Get updated and accurate information.
Zanzibar villa neighborhoods ranked by purchase price in 2026
This table ranks the main neighborhoods in the Zanzibar villa market by purchase price, from the most expensive to the most affordable.
For each neighborhood, the table includes the average price per square meter, the median property price, the starting budget, the average price for a one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom villa, the typical buyer profile, the key advantages, the key drawbacks, and the market segment.
Finally, please note you'll find much more detailed data in our real estate pack about Zanzibar.
| Rank | Neighborhood | Average Price per Square Meter | Median Property Price | Starting Budget | Average Price for a One-Bedroom Villa | Average Price for a Two-Bedroom Villa | Average Price for a Three-Bedroom Villa | Typical Buyers | Key Pros | Key Cons | Market Segment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nungwi | TZS 10,800,000 | TZS 3,100,000,000 | TZS 1,400,000,000 | TZS 2,700,000,000 | TZS 3,600,000,000 | TZS 4,800,000,000 | Ultra-luxury beach buyers | Zanzibar's strongest global beach brand, strong resale visibility, and deep tourist demand support villa prices | Very expensive, busy, and more tourism-heavy than buyers wanting quiet full-time residential living | Luxury |
| 2 | Kendwa | TZS 10,100,000 | TZS 2,800,000,000 | TZS 1,200,000,000 | TZS 2,400,000,000 | TZS 3,200,000,000 | TZS 4,300,000,000 | Luxury leisure investors | Wide sandy beach and high-end holiday appeal keep Kendwa among Zanzibar's priciest villa zones | Supply is limited, prices are high, and pure residential neighborhood depth is still relatively thin | Luxury |
| 3 | Matemwe | TZS 9,600,000 | TZS 2,450,000,000 | TZS 950,000,000 | TZS 1,650,000,000 | TZS 2,350,000,000 | TZS 3,200,000,000 | Affluent second-home buyers | Mnemba-facing coastline, lower density, and upscale villa character make Matemwe highly desirable | Fewer everyday amenities than west-coast areas, and resale can be slower outside prime beachfront stock | Luxury |
| 4 | Pingwe | TZS 9,200,000 | TZS 2,200,000,000 | TZS 850,000,000 | TZS 1,450,000,000 | TZS 2,100,000,000 | TZS 2,950,000,000 | Secluded luxury buyers | Highly scenic east-coast setting with strong exclusivity and boutique-luxury appeal for private villas | Small market, fewer comparables, and resale pricing can swing significantly from one property to another | Luxury |
| 5 | Michamvi | TZS 8,900,000 | TZS 1,950,000,000 | TZS 720,000,000 | TZS 1,300,000,000 | TZS 1,900,000,000 | TZS 2,650,000,000 | Lifestyle-led villa buyers | Quiet peninsula feel, sunset views, and boutique hospitality activity support premium villa pricing | More remote than Paje or Fumba, with thinner year-round residential services and slower access | Premium |
| 6 | Kiwengwa | TZS 8,100,000 | TZS 1,550,000,000 | TZS 470,000,000 | TZS 900,000,000 | TZS 1,250,000,000 | TZS 1,800,000,000 | Resort-adjacent investors | Strong resort belt, good rental appeal, and more attainable entry points than the top north-coast areas | Product quality varies a lot, so buyers must check construction quality, access, and title carefully | Premium |
| 7 | Paje | TZS 7,500,000 | TZS 1,280,000,000 | TZS 860,000,000 | TZS 980,000,000 | TZS 1,350,000,000 | TZS 1,950,000,000 | Digital-nomad investors | Paje combines beach lifestyle, remote-work demand, and active international buyer interest in an unusual mix | Busier and more commercial than quieter villa villages, with pricing pushed up by strong lifestyle hype | Premium |
| 8 | Fumba | TZS 6,800,000 | TZS 1,120,000,000 | TZS 770,000,000 | TZS 900,000,000 | TZS 1,250,000,000 | TZS 1,650,000,000 | Planned-community buyers | The best formal master-planned residential offer in Zanzibar, with infrastructure and city access advantages | It feels more planned and less traditional beach-village Zanzibar, which some buyers find unappealing | Premium |
| 9 | Bwejuu | TZS 6,200,000 | TZS 950,000,000 | TZS 650,000,000 | TZS 760,000,000 | TZS 1,050,000,000 | TZS 1,450,000,000 | Quiet upscale families | Peaceful beachfront atmosphere and growing prestige offer solid lifestyle value below the top luxury areas | Fewer direct comparables and thinner transaction flow make pricing less transparent for first-time buyers | Mid-Market |
| 10 | Jambiani | TZS 5,800,000 | TZS 820,000,000 | TZS 540,000,000 | TZS 620,000,000 | TZS 900,000,000 | TZS 1,250,000,000 | Mid-market lifestyle buyers | Better villa accessibility than Paje while still benefiting from strong southeast-coast tourism activity | Roads, drainage, and micro-location quality can vary meaningfully from one pocket to another | Mid-Market |
| 11 | Bububu | TZS 4,800,000 | TZS 680,000,000 | TZS 420,000,000 | TZS 500,000,000 | TZS 700,000,000 | TZS 980,000,000 | City-linked family buyers | Better access to Zanzibar City and daily services than most beach villages | It lacks the premium beach brand and holiday-rental appeal that support higher villa prices elsewhere in Zanzibar | Affordable |
| 12 | Kizimkazi | TZS 4,200,000 | TZS 550,000,000 | TZS 350,000,000 | TZS 430,000,000 | TZS 620,000,000 | TZS 860,000,000 | Entry-level long-horizon buyers | Lower entry prices and quieter south-coast character help budget-conscious buyers enter the Zanzibar villa market | More remote and less liquid, with weaker resale depth than the north and southeast hotspots | Affordable |
Make a profitable investment in Zanzibar
Better information leads to better decisions. Save time and money. Download our data.
Key insights about villa purchase prices in Zanzibar
Insights
- Nungwi and Kendwa villa prices in 2026 are more than twice the price per square meter of affordable Zanzibar neighborhoods like Kizimkazi, which means the choice of neighborhood matters far more than the choice of bedroom count.
- A two-bedroom villa in Zanzibar is typically the most practical investment entry point: one-bedroom villa stock is thin in most coastal areas, making pricing less stable and resale harder to predict.
- Paje villas in 2026 are priced above what local fundamentals alone would justify: the digital-nomad lifestyle premium has pushed Paje into the same pricing bracket as Kiwengwa, a more established resort zone.
- Fumba is no longer a budget option in Zanzibar: formal infrastructure and master-planned development have pushed Fumba villa prices into the premium segment, with median prices around TZS 1.1 billion.
- The gap between the most expensive Zanzibar villa neighborhood (Nungwi) and the most affordable (Kizimkazi) is TZS 2.55 billion at the median level, which is a wider spread than most buyers expect before they start researching.
- Bwejuu and Jambiani offer a calmer alternative to Paje at a meaningful price discount: median villa prices in Bwejuu and Jambiani in 2026 are around 25 to 35 percent lower than in Paje, for a similar east-coast beach setting.
- Matemwe villas sit at the high end of the Zanzibar market despite being less well known internationally than Nungwi, largely because of its low-density Mnemba-facing coastline and upscale villa character.
- Cheaper Zanzibar neighborhoods are not necessarily worse places to buy; they often simply have thinner resale liquidity, which means you may wait longer to find a buyer when you eventually want to sell.
- North-coast villa prices in Zanzibar are driven by international beach prestige and branded resort proximity, not by local wages or everyday demand, which makes them more exposed to shifts in global tourism sentiment.
- For a first villa purchase in Zanzibar, Bwejuu, Jambiani, Kiwengwa, and Fumba offer the easiest combination of accessible prices, reasonable market depth, and lower execution risk compared with the top luxury zones.
- Southeast Zanzibar villa pricing in 2026 is increasingly supported by remote-work demand and boutique hospitality growth, making areas like Paje and Michamvi less dependent on pure package tourism than they were five years ago.
Get to know the market before buying a property in Zanzibar
Better information leads to better decisions. Get all the data you need before investing a large amount of money.
About our methodology
We also believe it is important to show our reasoning. It is one of the ways we make our work solid, transparent, and rigorous, just as you will see in our real estate pack about Zanzibar.
First, please note that this data is updated regularly, so what you see here reflects the current values as of today.
In order to get reliable data on Zanzibar villa purchase prices, we applied a strict source filter. We only used authoritative, verifiable sources, not random listings or unsupported figures. More on that point below.
For each Zanzibar neighborhood, we aggregated the freshest villa purchase price data available as of mid-2026. When possible, we cross-checked multiple sources to confirm the same price range.
This allowed us to estimate the average price per square meter and the median property price for each neighborhood in the Zanzibar villa market.
We also calculated the starting budget for each area, which represents the lowest realistic entry point to buy a villa in that neighborhood. This is not the cheapest possible listing ever seen, but a real, achievable floor for a standard villa purchase in Zanzibar in 2026.
For each bedroom category, we estimated an average purchase price based on local market conventions. The typical size and layout of a one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom villa can vary across Zanzibar's neighborhoods, so we adapted our estimates accordingly.
These estimates were not applied as one flat number across all of Zanzibar. They were adjusted by neighborhood and property type to better reflect local ownership conditions and price levels. We also excluded apartments, condos, land, and hotel stock from the pricing logic wherever possible, to keep the focus strictly on villas.
This table should therefore be read as a structured market estimate, not as an exact guarantee of transaction prices. Honesty, quality, and rigor are at the core of our work, and they are also what you will find in our real estate pack about Zanzibar.
What sources have we used to write this blog article?
Whether it's in our blog articles or the market analyses included in our real estate pack about Zanzibar, we rely on verifiable sources and a transparent methodology.
We also aim to be fully transparent, so below we've listed the authoritative sources we used, and explained how we used them and the methods behind our estimates.
| Source | Why it is authoritative | How we used it |
|---|---|---|
| OCGS Zanzibar Annual Tourism Releases | It is the official government statistics office for Zanzibar and publishes verified tourism and economic data. | We used it to anchor current tourism demand and visitor growth, because villa demand in Zanzibar is heavily tied to tourism and second-home interest. We also used it to identify which coastal zones remain most commercially relevant in mid-2026. |
| Bank of Tanzania Exchange Rates | It is Tanzania's central bank and the official daily source for foreign exchange rates. | We used it to convert all USD-denominated villa listings into Tanzanian shillings using the 26 March 2026 mean rate of approximately 2,570 TZS per USD. We applied this rate consistently across all neighborhoods and bedroom types. |
| Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority (ZIPA) | ZIPA is the main Zanzibar government body for investment facilitation and publishes official real estate investment guidance. | We used it to understand the legal and investment backdrop that supports foreign-buyer activity and formal development projects in Zanzibar. We also used it to frame why branded and master-planned villa stock is gaining market weight. |
| Knight Frank Africa Report 2024/25 | Knight Frank is a globally recognized real estate research firm with deep expertise in East African luxury residential markets. | We used it as a regional benchmark for luxury residential positioning and investor appetite in East Africa. We also used it as a credibility check when ranking Zanzibar's premium coastal villa belts. |
| RE/MAX Tanzania Zanzibar Listings | RE/MAX is a large international brokerage with active villa inventory across Zanzibar's main neighborhoods. | We used it to observe live asking-price bands, unit sizes, and where villa-type stock clusters by area. We also used it to check entry budgets and confirm mid-market versus premium pricing positioning. |
| JamesEdition Zanzibar Listings | JamesEdition is a major global luxury property marketplace covering high-end real estate in markets including Zanzibar. | We used it to benchmark the top end of the Zanzibar villa market, especially beachfront and branded luxury stock. We also used it to compare north-coast and southeast-coast pricing at the premium level. |
| Tranio Zanzibar Villas | Tranio is an established international property marketplace focused on cross-border buyers, with active Zanzibar villa inventory. | We used it to cross-check new-build and internationally marketed villa pricing in Zanzibar. We also used it to confirm whether premium branded projects were broadly aligned with what local brokerages were quoting. |
| Coldwell Banker Tanzania Zanzibar Listings | Coldwell Banker is a well-known international real estate brand with verified listings in Zanzibar's active villa markets. | We used it to anchor bedroom-specific pricing in areas where one-bedroom and two-bedroom villas are actively being marketed. We also used it to avoid over-relying on ultra-luxury listings when calibrating more accessible price points. |
| Fumba Town Developer Pages | It is the official source for Zanzibar's best-known master-planned residential project and publishes first-hand pricing and product information. | We used it to understand the scale, product mix, and pricing logic of Fumba's planned residential stock. We also used it to position Fumba correctly as a formal, infrastructure-led premium market rather than an affordable one. |
| Anantara Zanzibar Resort and Residences | Anantara is a globally recognized luxury hospitality brand with a residential offering in Zanzibar's north-coast villa market. | We used it to anchor the branded-luxury ceiling in the northern and northeastern villa market. We also used it to support why Nungwi and nearby north-coast zones sit at the top of Zanzibar's villa price ladder. |
Don't lose money on your property in Zanzibar
100% of people who have lost money there have spent less than 1 hour researching the market. We have reviewed everything there is to know. Grab our guide now.
