Vice President of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association, Ing. Stephen Debrah-Ablormeti, has called on government to provide developers tax rebates.
Making the demand ahead of the budget presentation on Friday, 12th March 2021, he stated that, the tax rebates will help estate developers in the housing sector.
According to him, they stand a chance to contribute at least two million housing units to curb Ghana’s housing deficit.
“From the point of developers, we’re just looking for some sort of motivation in terms of some tax rebate. [This is] for developers developing affordable housing; duty waivers and things like that, just so that developers will take interest in doing that.
“Because we have over 2,000 property developers in Ghana and all of us build just about 100 units a year per person, we can easily do the math, and that [we’ll] realize about two million. So, there should be some strong motivation for property developers”.
President Akufo-Addo address housing deficit issues
Ghana Statistical Service maintains that there is a deficit of two million housing units as at the end of last year. However, President Akufo-Addo has declared his intention in resolving the housing deficit in the country.
In his State of the Nation Address delivered on Tuesday, [March 9, 2021, he opined that resolving the housing issue was long overdue.
“The housing deficit is not limited to our security services. It is a nationwide problem that is caused mostly by the intolerable pressure on land prices. This has put affordable housing out of the reach of most people.
“We have begun the difficult process of making housing affordable for Ghanaians. Government, last year, abolished the 5% VAT/NHIL on real estate sales, and continues to create a conducive environment that is reducing interest rates on mortgage loans.
President Akufo-Addo
Feasibility of affordable housing
Former Works and Housing Minister, Samuel Atta Akyea had earlier insisted that Ghanaians are “marking time for Akufo-Addo flats”. That notwithstanding, he believes President Akufo-Addo will be able to deliver on his promise.
“I’ve heard and I believe it’s true, the President [Akufo-Addo] intends tackling affordable housing in his second term and I believe he will do so.
“We’ve had the benefit of the Nkrumah flats; we’ve also had the benefit of Nyaniba estates. We have also had the benefit of the Kanda estates. President Akufo-Addo has the whole world of opportunity to write his name in gold in the area of affordable housing. Ghanaians are marking time for the Akufo-Addo flats. He will be able to do so as he exits office in 2025”.
Additionally, he explained that about 10 million Ghanaians do not have decent place of residence due to Ghana’s housing deficit unit has surpassed the two million housing unit mark.
“What is very important is our income levels are not good enough to permit us to buy houses. I have put together a working paper to leverage on the pension funds. Then, create our mortgage regime for the workers, given our income level because that source of money is the workers monies”.
Samuel Atta Akyea
