Ghana Design and Construction Housing Solutions Needed
The Ghanaian Ministry of Housing estimates that, at present, there is a housing unit deficit of two million units in Ghana. Meanwhile, Ghana, like much of Africa, boasts a young, vibrant, and growing middle class population which comprises 40% of the population. This demographic trend is driving a continuous need to build even more affordable housing. In particular, Ghana is seeing a surge of university aged students who will soon need to rent or purchase a home or apartment or rent an office space.
However, that demographic’s earnings sometimes do not exceed $9 dollars per day. With the generally applied assumption that no more than 30% of all household income should be spent on housing, this severely limits the potential cost of new housing units.
According to the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, much of the current stock of affordable housing is built by contractors in the informal economy, often through incremental construction. Most housing in Ghana is occupied by owners, especially houses in rural regions, with the highest share in the northeast of the country (90%). Many times, however, such houses do not have clear title to the land they are on and lack basic services to them. The rental market is primarily urban, with Greater Accra having the highest proportion of households that rent units (48%).
Since the ability to secure affordable accommodation could become a significant impediment to development, the Ghanaian Ministry of Housing is strongly focused on this issue and looking for partners to work on joint projects. Further, Ghana’s President recently called on the Ghana Chamber of Construction Industry (GhCCI), challenging it and other industry players to come up with solutions to building good quality, but affordable homes.
Financing: Several local banks do offer mortgage financing, generally ranging from five to 20 year terms on the loan. Income levels are a key factor in obtaining financing. Interest rates on mortgages are typically high (above 25%). Several banks offer variable interest rates in Ghanaian Cedis, U.S dollars, British pounds, or Euros.
In terms of investment opportunities, Ghana secured a $75 million dollar commercial loan from the African Development Bank in October 2021 for the Ghana Infrastructure Investment Fund (GIIF) to improve the climate for building affordable housing, in Ghana.
Opportunities for U.S. companies include:
• Provision of affordable housing/building solutions that bring international financing or other mortgage/financial instruments that are accessible for the middle class.
• Government and local tenders for affordable housing projects.
• Provision of construction materials, equipment and services to the residential construction industry.
For more information on Ghana’s real estate and construction sector, contact the Commercial Section of the U.S. Embassy in Ghana, at Office.Accra@trade.gov or Tel: +233(0)30-274-1870. Please see our Country Commercial Guide and our wide range of market intelligence reports.