An investigation into the factors accounting for the high and persistent housing deficit in Ghana
Date
2018-04
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
For several decades, Ghana has faced an increasing housing deficit. As
population is expected to grow in the coming years, so is the housing deficit, if the right
measures are not put in place. Following this, the study sought to gather information
from relevant stakeholders in the housing industry on the key factors influencing the
housing deficit. Thereafter, ways of addressing the deficit were discussed and proposed.
To achieve the objectives of the study, the following research questions were answered:
i) What are the most pertinent factors accounting for the high and persistent deficit in
Ghana? ii) In what ways are these factors influencing the persistence of the housing
deficit? iii) In what ways can the housing deficit be addressed?
A conceptual framework was developed for this study with the various players
in the housing industry put into 5 different groups based on their roles in the industry.
These groups are the construction team, financial institutions, regulatory team, housing
and utility service providers as well as housing service customers. Quantitative data
was then collected from 454 persons while qualitative data was gathered from 1 person
each from the construction team, financial institutions, regulatory team and housing and
utility service providers.
The results revealed that amongst the main challenges encountered by home
owners and potential home owners in acquiring a house are cost of land, cost of building
materials and inadequate/expensive mortgage financing. On the side of those who
supply housing, the key challenges were discovered to be high cost of building
materials and labour, inadequate financing and defective land tenure system. Some
ways of addressing the deficit were proposed including providing incentives to
developers to help reduce construction cost, spreading jobs across the country to reduce
congestion in major cities and the introduction of high rise buildings.
Description
Thesis submitted to the Department of Business Administration, Ashesi University, in partial fulfillment of Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, April 2018
item.page.type
Thesis
item.page.format
Keywords
Ghana, housing deficit, land tenure, housing, building materials