Ghana Chamber of Corporate Trustees (CCT) and Ghana Securities Industry Association (GSIA), in partnership with SLE Global, are to organise a maiden seminar on real estate investment.

The summit will be on the theme: ‘Student Housing: A New Asset Class in Sub-Saharan Africa’.

A statement from the two bodies that announced the seminar said the event will be virtual and was scheduled to come off on Tuesday, June 29 at 10am GMT.

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Purpose

It said was aimed to bring forth leading experts from across the globe to deliberate on the investment opportunities in student housing as an emerging asset class, the strong demand conditions, development landscape as well as existing opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the statement, student housing was regarded as a neglected niche in Africa, especially with the increase in enrolments in tertiary educational institutions.

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It, however, said student housing segment had not kept pace with the trend.

“The market is considered to be a relatively secure investment due to its track record of rental growth. Thus, occupancy level is very high, at the same time demand outstrip supply.”

“Among the reasons for the supply and demand gap is that fewer property managers specialise in the student housing market segment,” the statement said.

 
Speakers

It said the speakers included the President of the Chamber of Corporate Trustees, Mr. Joseph B. Ampofo; the Vice President of GSIA, Mr Kisseih Antonio; the Chairman of Living Capital Markets, JLL (London), Mr Philip Hillman; and the Associate Director of JLL (Johannesburg), Mr Pepler Sandri.

It said the rest were the Manager of JLL (Johannesburg), Madam Bernice Swanepoel; the CEO of Broll Ghana, Mr Tony Sekyere.

 
Importance

Commenting on the upcoming event, the Executive Secretary of the Chamber of Corporate Trustees, Mr Thomas Kwesi Esso, said participants would gain knowledge in the benefits of having Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) as an asset.

“Secondly, it should lead us to start operationalising the REIT guidelines passed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Also, it must lead us to create an impact on the economy as we attempt to use pension funds to solve a critical issue of inadequate student accommodation as a way of reducing housing deficits in tertiary institution. And last but not least, it is to deepen the investment vehicles in the capital/financial market,” he explained.