The agreement will see the Ghana Home Loans financing the construction of the first 100 units at Appolonia City, as well as providing mortgages for buyers of the units.

Speaking at a signing ceremony at the US Embassy in Accra on Wednesday, Mr Stephen Jennings, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Rendeavour said while the private sector had a major role to play in providing the more than 190,000 housing units needed to close Ghana’s housing deficit, it was important to package infrastructure, construction and finance.

“That is precisely what our partnership with GHL achieves, and this is why our partnership is extremely scalable,” he said. Mr Jennings said it affirmed Rendeavour’s commitment to building inclusive city developments for all income levels in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mr Jennings, who signed the agreement for Rendeavour, said the partnership was a step to contribute to the housing sector in Ghana and expressed the hope that it would go beyond the first 100 units.

Mr Dominic Adu, Chief Executive Officer of GHL, who initialed for his company, said it was about the opportunity to partner with Rendeavour to provide well-structured affordable housing in a conducive environment.

He said he looked forward to continuing the partnership even outside Ghana.

He expressed confidence that the phase two of the project, expected to provide about 2,500 over a five year period, would start in the first quarter of 2019, after the completion of phase one, which would start by end of August 2017 and cover an 18-month period.

The first phase of the project, which is being funded by the GHL, is estimated at about five billion dollars, while phase will be about $110 million. “We are not just funding the construction of this project, we’re also providing mortgages to potential buyers and we can assure you that the mortgage we’re going to provide will be the most competitive and attractive on the market”, he said.

He explained that the GHL would soon become a bank, which would allow it to have lower mortgage rates since the facility would no longer borrow from other institutions.  “If we have a product that allows people to save, that brings down our cost of funds, which will be passed on to the borrower,” he noted.

Mr Robert Porter Jackson, the Ambassador of the United States, said Ghana’s housing deficit stood at 1.7 million units, with a potential increase to 2.4 million by 2026.  This, he said, would have detrimental effect on the economic growth, thus the need to address it.

He expressed the need for a viable mortgage system and commended Vice President Dr Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia’s pledge to address the housing deficit by supporting the development of the mortgage sector.

He called on other institutions in Ghana’s banking sector to contribute to growing the economy. “By moving beyond government funds, banks can help Ghana develop a world-class mortgage market; a system based on the borrower’s ability to repay, not on whom people know,” he stated.

Ms Freda Prempeh, Deputy Minister of Lands and Housing, appealed to Rendeavour and GHL to consider the affordability for average Ghanaian in their pricing of the units as cost was a major factor in the housing deficit. She urged Rendeavour to incorporate the use of local building materials such as clay in their work, in order to reduce the cost of construction. 

She said government was working to address the deficit, with a goal of producing about 200,000 units every year. Government, she noted, was focusing on providing the affordable houses in the outskirts of the city since Accra was very choked.

She commended Appolonia City’s location in Oyibi and encouraged Rendeavour to consider similar developments in the other regions of Ghana. The Minister said, government was also working to address the major challenges in the housing sector, including land titles and financing by helping investors acquire land titles and reviving the Bank for Housing and Construction.