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Ghana’s housing deficit is currently hovering above 1.7 million units. This means the country will require about 700,000 units of houses annually to meet this demand and thus requiring an investment of about $52 billion over a 10 year period. A myriad of factors account for the above mentioned deficit, some of these include; the lack of project continuity resulting from change in governments, rural urban migration, population growth, high cost of mortgage financing etc.
On the flip side however, private pension fund mobilisation has been on the ascendance over the years peaking at about GHC 9.7 billion in 2017 from a figure of GHC 6.8 billion in 2016 (NPRA). This growth has however brought to the fore concerns about how these funds are invested. A recent global survey of 320 investors and fund managers from 27 countries shows majority of the respondents plan to increase their respective exposure (average 10% of AUM) to the real estate sector over the next 24 months (Investment Intentions Survey, 2018).
It is therefore not far-fetched if amendments are made to the pensions law to require at least 30% of the pension pool be allocated to the real estate sector as being proposed by the Ministry of Works and Housing. With banks as catalysts, these funds will be used as mortgages for workers to purchase their own homes and help ease the pressure in the real estate sector.
