By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, Oct. 7, GNA—The National Housing Fund (NHF) has called for multiple financing pathways to enable more Ghanaians, including informal-sector workers and young people, to access decent and affordable housing.
Mr Prosper Hoetu, Chief Executive Officer of the NHF, said a housing finance system based on conventional mortgages could leave many hardworking Ghanaians outside the formal housing market.
Mr Hoetu was speaking at the maiden national conference on Housing Finance in Accra on the theme: “Adequate Housing for all: Innovative Financing for Ghana’s Housing Future.”
He said the different circumstances of Ghanaians required financing options including mortgages, rent-to-own arrangements, incremental building, and social housing.
He said many Ghanaians faced different barriers to homeownership, citing the example of a retired civil servant who had worked for 35 years but could not secure a mortgage because his salary was considered too small.
He said another challenge affected informal-sector workers who might have sufficient income to afford mortgages but lacked pay slips and conventional bank statements required by mortgage providers.
Mr Hoetu said young people moving to cities in search of jobs and opportunities also struggled to afford decent accommodation and often ended up in informal settlements and other inadequate housing arrangements.
He said the 2024 Housing Profile showed that about 60 per cent of Ghanaians who needed financial assistance to own homes required support to achieve that objective.
Mr Hoetu said Ghana’s mortgage penetration remained low at an estimated 0.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, while about 90 per cent of housing delivery took place through incremental self-financing.
He said it took an average of 10 years for people to complete houses through incremental construction, while the formal real estate sector was able to deliver only about 10 per cent of the country’s housing needs.
He said the figures demonstrated that Ghana’s housing challenge was largely a financing problem requiring innovative products that reflected people’s incomes and circumstances.
Mr Hoetu said the NHF had piloted the National Mortgage Scheme and Rent-to-Own Scheme and reviewed both programmes over the past one-and-a-half years to make them more affordable and accessible.
He said the National Mortgage Scheme had resumed lending at an interest rate of 8.4 per cent, down from 13.5 per cent, while developer financing stood at 10.4 per cent.
The Chief Executive Officer said the reduced rates had generated significant interest from prospective homeowners and encouraged a number of financial institutions to express interest in participating in the scheme.
He said the Fund would continue to develop financing options that recognised that while some Ghanaians could qualify for mortgages, others would require rent-to-own arrangements or social housing to achieve decent accommodation.
Mr Hoetu said housing finance should provide realistic pathways for Ghanaians to move from rental uncertainty or prolonged incremental construction to the security and dignity of decent homes.
GNA
Edited by Linda Asante Agyei
Reporter: Morkporkpor Anku
Email: [email protected]