Advisory Center for Affordable Settlements & Housing

acash

Advisory Center for Affordable Settlements and Housing
ACASH

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Document TypeGeneral
Publish Date27/10/2013
Author
Published ByJ Hous and the Built Environ
Edited ByTabassum Rahmani
Uncategorized

Financing housing in Ghana

Although the factors which influence the development of housing finance systems in developing countries have been identified in the literature, the interconnectedness of these factors has not been adequately examined. This paper employs the systems theory to examine the interrelatedness of the factors that influence the demand and supply of mortgage products in Ghana. The paper shows that as a result of supply and demand constraints, the Ghanaian mortgage market is still largely underdeveloped. Supply constraints include capital inadequacy of the banks, the inability of the financial institutions to establish the credit worthiness of potential borrowers and unfavorable macro-economic conditions which make investment in long-term loans unattractive to the banks. Demand side constraints include high house prices, high interest rates, unfavorable terms of loan repayments, low income levels and the cultural belief that it is not good to be in debt. We conclude that given the interconnectedness of these factors, a holistic program that resonates with systems thinking will be required to develop a well-functioning housing finance system in Ghana.

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