Ghana’s housing problem is affordability, not shortage — GAREB President
The President of the Ghana Association of Real Estate Brokers (GAREB), Jacob Adofo Ansong, has said that the country’s housing challenge is more about affordability than an actual shortage of houses.
He explained that although the country’s housing deficit was estimated at between 1.8 million and two million units, there were also about 1.5 million vacant houses across the country.
He stressed that many of the available houses remained beyond the reach of ordinary Ghanaians because they were not developed with the average citizen in mind.
Mr Ansong stated that the focus of policymakers should, therefore, shift towards creating affordable housing systems rather than concentrating solely on increasing housing stock.
“I don’t think we have a housing deficit. There is a lot of research to prove that.
As we talk about 1.8 to two million housing deficit, there are about 1.5 million housing units lying vacant,” Mr Ansong said in an interview with the media at a sensitisation workshop organised by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) in Accra yesterday.
Workshop
The workshop was organised by the Collateral Registry of the BoG in collaboration with the Ghana Association of Real Estate Brokers.
It brought together members of the Ghana Association of Real Estate Brokers to deepen their understanding of the Borrowers and Lenders Act, 2020 (Act 1052).
It was on the theme: “Strengthening stakeholder confidence through a comprehensive understanding of the Borrowers and Lenders Act 2020 (Act 1052) and the operations of the Collateral Registry.”
Affordable housing concerns
Mr Ansong explained that the growing cost of housing continued to prevent many Ghanaians from accessing decent accommodation despite the availability of properties on the market.
He stated that many developers focused on high-end projects targeted at investors and foreign buyers instead of ordinary citizens.
The GAREB president said the situation had created a mismatch between available housing stock and the purchasing power of the average Ghanaian.
“We don’t have a housing deficit.
It is the system we need to work on,” he stressed.
He called for stronger policies to support affordable housing development and improve access to financing for local buyers.
Mr Ansong urged stakeholders in the real estate sector to work together to address pricing challenges and improve housing accessibility.
Importance of transparency
The Deputy Head of the Collateral Registry Department of BoG, Rosemary Akabutu, stated that transparency and due diligence remained critical in strengthening confidence within the real estate and credit markets in the country.
Speaking on behalf of the Head and Registrar of the Collateral Registry, she explained that the Act 1052 had introduced reforms aimed at reducing lending risks and improving access to credit.
She stated that the law also led to the establishment of the Collateral Registry to support the registration and verification of security interests in movable and immovable assets.
Mrs Akabutu said conducting searches on properties before transactions was necessary to minimise fraud, prevent disputes and protect investments.
“Transparency is critical not only in financial transactions, but in fostering trust, ensuring integrity and upholding the confidence of every stakeholder we serve,” she said.
Public awareness challenge
She explained that despite the reforms being in existence for several years, public awareness about the collateral registry system remained low, hence the intensified financial literacy and stakeholder engagement programmes to educate industry players on the operations of the collateral registry and the provisions of Act 1052.
