GREDA, Elrano launch housing fair

Elrano, a real estate consulting firm, in partnership with Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), has launched a housing fair in Accra to harness the opportunities available to reduce the housing deficit in the country.

 The fair, dubbed, ‘Dongomi’, to be held on March 7 at the Silver Star Towers in Accra, is to provide mortgage services at flexible rates to prospective home owners.

Mr Elvin Nunoo Larkai, the Managing Director of Elrano, speaking at the media launch of the fair, said the country’s economy had a market base component with less investment and trade policy barriers.

He said the economy had been faced with various challenges, some of which were the fall of the Ghanaian cedi amidst falling oil prices, consumer preference for foreign products and the recent past issue of electricity supply and its distribution.

 He said another major challenge was the crises in the finance industry.

 Mr Larkai said GREDA, as an association responsible for all developers in Ghana, was poised to supporting its members with the necessary tools to survive.

 One sector that was growing at a faster pace and in the spotlight now in Ghana was the real estate industry, both domestic and foreign investors and multinational organisations, who wanted to play in the commercial, retail, industrial as well as the residential segments of the market, patronise the sector, he said.

He said there was an upsurge in the demand for a real estate property, spurring growth in the sector from 2007 to 2013.

“Growth in the sector, however, slowed alongside the fall in commodity prices in 2014 and the depreciation of the cedi in 2016 and 2017,” he added.

He said those challenges affected demand in the sector and in 2017 government started making efforts to boost its activities by abolishing the value added tax of five per on sales in the real estate market.

Mr Larkai said to address the situation, the government had entered into a partnership with the private sector to provide access to affordable homes to individuals.

He said a number of conferences and seminars, real estate clinics, training and publications have all been planned and outlined for this year to help members and the entire public.

He said as part of their annual calendar, they were looking at chartered real estate professional training, which would include marketing and sales, development and design, projects and construction and business support and management.

Mr Samuel Francis Amegayibor, the Executive Secretary of GREDA, commended Elrano for the partnership to reduce the housing deficit.

He said as part of the activities for the year, there would be CEOs’ Breakfast Meeting to be held on February 18, on the theme ‘The dynamics for survival in the real estate market’, to revamp the market.

 Mr Amegayibor said the association had developed a proposal for the construction of 20,000 affordable housing units in consultation with government, which had been submitted for consideration.

He said looking at their numerical strength and experience on the ground, they could not fail in that demand, adding that affordable housing could only be done by the private sector with support from government, which should address some clear indicators.

He urged the public to take advantage of the fair to fulfil their dreams of owning a house. GNA