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Salaried workers who plan to buy a home but whose income fall below GH�4,000 may have to find a way to increase their salaries or switch to jobs that will boost their income. This is because, the latest report on the real estate industry has revealed that workers whose salaries fall below GH�4,000 may be unable to qualify for a mortgage. This, is according to a report by the Housing Data Centre. According to the Housing Data Centre which draws data from the real estate and housing sectors in Ghana and survey data from mortgage players and other sources, prices of houses are likely to go up by at least 50 percent this year alone if current economic challenges continue. The Housing Data Centre further warned that the situation could worsen if interest rates, fuel, electricity and transport cost continue to rise According to the report, prices of houses started soaring last year and this continued into the first quarter of this year. For example, in the first quarter of 2013, a two-bedroom semi detached house at Kantamanso was going for USD 69,500 while a three bedroom detached houses in the same area was going for USD 180,000. The same houses are now going for USD 98,000 and USD 220,000 respectively an increase of 23.5% and 18.5%. The price hikes runs through other areas including Dawhenya in Tema, Kasoa in the Central region and Dodowa in the Greater Accra region where prices of houses have risen to between 18 and 25 percent. The Housing Data Centre has attributed the rising cost to the continuous depreciation of the cedi against major foreign currencies and hikes in fuel prices leading to increases in general goods and services. It also attributed the increase in the prices of houses to cost of labour, material and infrastructure cost, import duties, overheads, interest rates, difficulties in acquiring litigation free land, and the additional introduction of 17.5%VAT in the sector. Meanwhile, if you have plans to get a mortgage this year you may have brace yourself according to the report mortgages have become extremely difficult to access. Salaried workers with an income lower than 4 thousand cedis may find extremely difficult to have access to a mortgage. For example, in the first quarter of this year a worker needed a monthly repayment of GH�1,820.00 for a one bedroom house with the qualifying income of GH�4,000.00 while the monthly repayment for a two bedroom house at Kuntunse costing GH�142,000 was GH�2,872 with a qualifying income of GH�6,000.00,also a monthly repayment for a three bedroom house costing GH�180,000 at Amasaman is GH�4,000 with the qualifying income of GH�12,000.00. The Housing Data Centre has warned the situation could worsen if interest rates, fuel, electricity and transport cost continue to rise. The centre also fears the continuous depreciation of the cedi as well the introduction of the 17.5%VAT charge in the sector will make it more difficult to purchase a house.