Real estate bill coming soon

A bill to regulate real estate brokerage practice, practitioners, and transactions as well as prevent the use of real estate transactions for the purposes of money laundering and other vices has been approved by cabinet and will soon be laid in parliament for passage into law.

Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda, in speech read on his behalf, said the bill will provide for the training and licensing of estate brokers while at the same time requiring estate brokers to provide bonds as guarantees to operators in the market.

Speaking at a real estate conference organised by Lamudi, a global property online portal focusing on emerging market, he added that the bill will also establish a real estate agency authority to regulate the practice, commercial transactions in real estate including the sale, purchase, rental and leasing of real estate and related fixed assets and to provide for connected purposes.

“The activities of the industry are very dear to the heart of the industry, we recognise that, this is an area that is growing at fast pace, in a very technologically advanced environment. Consequently, the risks are very huge. The bill has been approved by cabinet and will soon be laid in parliament,” he said.

The minister added that, the new housing policy has been finalised and sent to cabinet for approval.

“The overall goal of the policy is to provide adequate, safe, secure, decent, and affordable housing that is accessible and sustainable to all people living in Ghana. The policy will promote greater private sector participation in housing delivery,” he said.

The policy, according to the minister, will see the establishment of a National Housing Fund which will be designated for affordable mortgages, slum upgrading and support for small scale local building material producers.

Sammy Amegayibor, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) noted that with a housing deficit of 1.7million units, the country needs affordable housing of 170,000 units annually for 10 years.

He believes the only way forward is a public-private partnership. “In my opinion, PPPs provide the best opportunities. The government has made it clear that it does not have the funding, so these types of partnerships seem like the best solutions right now.”

Abena Nyame-Mensah, Managing Director of Lamudi Ghana said that Lamudi is greatly concerned with the improvement of the real estate industry in the country hence the reason behind the conference real estate.

“Lamudi is not only focused on bringing transparency to the sector but it is also interested in ensuring that all stakeholders involved in the real estate industry have an opportunity to network and exchange ideas to ensure that the industry is sustainable.

“Sustainability does not only refer to the materials and system that are built into a property based on the current state of our environment and energy sector, but also the manner in which they are built in relations to high demand,” she said.

It has over 6,000 listings in Ghana alone and continues to grow at a rapid rate. During that period, Lamudi Ghana hit 5,000 listings by August and has helped connect hundreds of house-hunters in the country.

Globally, Lamudi launched both Android and iOS apps during 2014, which have been downloaded close to a 100,000 times since June.