His Excellency, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has commissioned the National Housing Mortgage Fund Estates in Tema, comprising 204 units constructed in nine months under the National Housing Mortgage Fund (NHMF).
The initiative, which is a collaboration between the Ministry of Works and Housing, Ministry of Finance, TDC Development Company Limited, Ghana Commercial Bank, Republic Bank and Stanbic Bank, is to curb the housing deficit and also address the demand-side challenges of home ownership in the country.
The 204 housing units include one and two standard and expandable unit bedrooms with adequate infrastructure for public sector workers. Through the National Housing Mortgage Fund (NHMF), mortgages are being underwritten at the rates of 10 to 12 percent by G CB Bank Limited, Republic Bank and Stanbic Bank.
The President described the completion of the 204 housing units as one of the successes achieved during the two year pilot phase of the NHMF. According to him, the annual supply of about 40,000 housing units, which are unable to meet the annual demand of 70,000 homes, has contributed to the rising housing deficit which has now exceeded two million housing units.
President Akufo-Addo added that, under the National Housing and Mortgage Scheme, mortgages have been reduced by about 60 percent, compared to the average rate of 28 percent on the market which will help solve the problem of multiple sale of lands, issues of land guards, the high cost of building materials, high interest rate among others that make home owning very difficult.
On his part, the Hon. Minister of Works and Housing, Samuel Atta Akyea, said Government’s vision is to revive affordable housing and provide decent housing to citizens, adding that, there is the need to allocate more funds into the NHMF in order to provide more affordable houses to Ghanaians.
The Minister commended the Government on its considerable progress in delivering on housing in spite of challenges. He noted that, provision of affordable houses in various constituencies and districts will reduce rural urban migration and depopulate the urban areas.
The Minister of Finance, Hon. Ken Ofori Atta, stated that, GH₵80 Million has been allocated to the NHMF, which has helped to deliver model community houses at the cost of about GH₵45 Million, which will help the middle and lower income earners to rent and own houses in Tema.
According to him, the scheme will deepen the local currency mortgage and housing finance market, while leveraging the banking and capital market, saying, the Government is poised in increasing funding to the NHMF to about GH₵1billion to enable the development of similar model communities in other districts across the country.