Accra Luxury Property Market needs a boost – Analyst

A Senior Economic Analyst at Databank, Courage Kingsley Martey, has said that the increasing number of millionaires in Accra could boost the luxury property market.

This, he said, would be at the expense of the low to middle income class, which constitutes the bulk of current demand.

A statement issued by Mr Fidel Amoah, the Content Manager, Lamudi and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Thursday expected that more real estate developers exploited the high-end property market, as they sought to maximize their margins.

The statement said this was in view of a recent report published by the South African-based research company, New World Wealth.

The report listed Accra as one of the top 10 African cities for millionaires.

He emphasized that businesses sought to maximize value, and in the case of real estate, the lower end of the income spectrum was not seen as lucrative enough given the current economic difficulties that tended to increase their default risks.

The statement said for this reason, real estate developers could tailor their products to meet the high income bracket.

Mr Martey believed that though the report may come as welcoming news to estate developers, the sustainability of luxury property investment would face the test of time.

He said the bulk of Ghana’s real estate demand was in the middle-income segment.

He explained that the continued investment in luxury properties would lead to middle income earners being unable to meet mortgage requirements.

He said this effect, known as crowding out, would force developers to adapt their products to satisfy this market.

Mr Martey said: “Businesses look to meet demand so I see the increase in millionaires as an incentive for real estate developers who want to continue investing in the high-end property market. Its sustainability that is however questionable, because ultimately, the bulk of the demand lies with the middle income segment.”

“So, if mortgages are mainly geared towards the high-income segment, we would quickly see saturation on that end of the market while a chunk of the population would be crowded out of the mortgage market.

“This would prove unsustainable in the medium term and could compel developers to tweak their products to serve the growing demand of the middle income segment,” he added.

Mr Felix Attua-Afari, the Marketing Manager of DP Group Ltd, a real estate company specializing in luxury properties, agreed to some extent with Mr Martey’s opinion.

He believed the report confirmed Accra as one of Africa’s most attractive destinations, and was likely to ramp up more interest in the property market.

“As demand rises, prices would increase in the prime locations of the city,” he said.

Mr Attua-Afari said that although the middle-income segment was likely to be priced out of the prime areas in Accra, a number of developers already catered for this segment.

“There are some developers who invest in property on the outskirts of Accra. As long as they do, with the continued assistance of banks and mortgage lenders, middle income earners will be able to afford such properties,” he said.

Mr Attua-Afari believed that with the continuing investment of properties on the outskirts of town targeted at middle-income earners, this segment would have their housing needs met.

Ms Akua Nyame-Mensah, the Managing Director of Lamudi Ghana, said: “Accra is growing in importance with respect to investment in Africa.

The recently published World Wealth Report suggests that developers must adapt accordingly to suit this growing demand”.

“The middle-class segment is equally important. We must ensure that measures are put in place to enable them purchase property since they are the backbone of our economy,” she added.

Launched in 2013, Lamudi is a global property portal focusing exclusively on emerging markets. The fast-growing platform is currently available in 32 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America, with more than 900,000 real estate listings across its global network.

The leading real estate marketplace offers sellers, buyers, landlords and renters a secure and easy-to-use platform to find or list properties online.