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The Vice-President of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), Regina Botchwey, has stated that there cannot be anything like affordable housing in the country.

“To build houses, you would need a land; you would need to put up quality social amenities like roads, street lights, drainage systems, which are done by the developer, which ordinarily should not have been the case,” she stressed.

Botchwey, who is also the vice-chairperson for real estate developer Regimanuel Gray Limited, said these in an interview with The Finder after her company signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HFC Bank to provide housing for Ghanaians.

It is very unlikely that the average Ghanaian will be able to purchase these properties without access to a mortgage.

30% average interest rate for mortgage loans

The average interest rate for mortgage loans among commercial banks hovers around 30%.

85% of Ghanaians cannot afford to buy a house

Real estate companies have sought clarification on government’s definition of affordable housing after several surveys revealed that about 85% of Ghanaians cannot afford to buy a house.

Persons who earn below GH₵4,000 monthly cannot buy one-bedroom house

The surveys found that worsening economic conditions have shot up prices of homes, with workers earning salaries below GH₵4,000 a month unable to buy a one-bedroom house on the outskirts of Accra.
Clearly, access to a decent residential housing property in Ghana is gradually becoming more and more difficult for the average Ghanaian worker.

Failure of govt agencies 

Botchwey stated that if government agencies in charge of amenities like water, electricity, roads and sanitation were doing their job, it would have created the conditions that make affordable housing possible.
Provision of social amenities account for 30% of cost of houses 
She added that about 30 to 40% of the cost of housing goes into social amenities, which shoots up the cost of housing, so there cannot be anything like affordable houses.
The Vice-Chairperson of Regimanuel Gray said acquiring and registering land alone is hectic, adding, “On one land, you pay about three different family heads of the land to have your peace; if you want to bring light, the poles alone is expensive, so until government takes up these things, housing pricing will always be high.

“If government does not support the private sector, it will be difficult for us to put up affordable structures,” she said, explaining further that the private sector is heavily dependent on private funding, which comes with high interest cost.

Madam Botchwey suggested the need for the government to engage the services of domestic developers in policy design of housing, a move many agreed would create jobs for Ghanaians and retain profit in the country to bolster national economy.

Ghana’s housing deficit is said to be about 1.7 million units, with an annual increment in demand of about 100,000 units.
However, real estate companies are said to be providing about 40,000 housing units annually, which means that there is lot to be done in the housing and finance industry.

Without a mortgage

Without a mortgage, it is standard for property developers in Ghana to charge at least 40% of the cost of the house upfront, with the rest due in instalments, before the keys to the property are handed over.

Equity lease

Mortgage companies can also offer equity release on houses, as customers take out long-term loans using their property as collateral.

Home finance experts say a fundamental disparity exists between the properties many Ghanaians are trying to build or buy and those they can actually afford.
A mortgage is a loan taken for the purpose of acquiring real estate. 
Because a home is one of the most expensive acquisitions anyone can make, mortgages are usually large sums paid over several years or a few decades.

Shelter is a fundamental human need. Whether we build, buy, lease or rent, we all have to make the decision to acquire a place to sleep in Ghana. 

The necessity of shelter, the desire by most people in Ghana to have their own home rather than rent, and the high cost of real estate make mortgages very important in Ghana. 

It also makes the ease of getting a mortgage and the interest rate charged for that mortgage a measure of the living standards of people in a country.