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As the task of providing good accommodation for the nation’s working class is enormous and cannot be borne by government alone, Ecobank Ghana has taken it upon itself to launch the maiden edition of Ecobank Housing Fair at the southern part of Ghana.

According to the Executive Director Legal, Human Resource & Compliance, Mr. Morgan .F. Asiedu, Ecobank has taken upon itself to create this platform that brings together Real Estate Companies, Value Chain Suppliers, potential home owners and other patrons of residential properties.

Addressing the media at the opening ceremony, Mr. Morgan Asiedu averred that several opportunities and various ways of owing homes are presented as Ecobank will provide what they believe to be the best financing options available today on the market.

“As a bank, we rely on our strong balance sheet size to structure and provide to our customers medium to long term financial options at very competitive interest rates. It is in this light that I invite all would-be home owners to approach the Ecobank Mortgage team,” he stated.

He stressed that Ecobank has a team of experts to assess the needs of customers and therefore propose the various options available and the types of financial arrangements that will suit their income level.

He asserted that “as the biggest bank in the country today Ecobank deems it a privilege to join forces with the Government and other stakeholders in the quest to provide decent accommodation for all and to assist in reducing the housing deficit”.

“We believe that with our unbeatable pricing models on offer our customers will take advantage not only to own a house but also make huge savings in their housing budget in the long run”, he stressed.

Going into the housing deficit in the country, Mr. Morgan Asiedu estimated that the current housing deficit which is at 1.7 million units is expected to rise to 2 million units by 2018 as Ghana’s population is estimated to reach 32.2 million by 2020 and with about 57 percent living in the urban communities.

Quoting from the experts, Mr. Asiedu said the country would require about 200, 000 housing units every year for the next 10 years to be able to bridge the gap; thus, a recent online survey by Jumia Homes Ghana and Hacking Adulthood have revealed that 91 percent of Ghanaians are not property owners and therefore, either live in rented accommodation or with their extended families.

“In Ghana, key among the challenges facing the housing sector are; the complexity of our land tenure system, the cumbersome land registration processes, poor infrastructural development especially at the city outskirts, high cost of building materials and construction labour, poor financing options with prohibitive interest rates, poor knowledge of the housing market by potential home owners, unwillingness of some financial institution to provide funding for Real Estate development and lack of reliable data on housing needs”, he listed.