Director of Development at Devtraco Group, on Friday Sidney Quaye has said that Ghana’s housing sector is open for more investments, urging investors to leverage the opportunity provided by the growing housing needs in the country.
Speaking to the media on the new focus of the leading real estate company in Ghana, Quaye said due to the population boom, demographic shifts, and influx of expatriates, there is a growing need for decent accommodation befitting the status of the different segments of the growing population.
“There’s a lot of opportunity, but this is the time developers need to identify their specific niche and focus on developing properties for those niches,” Ouaye stated.
According to him, new investors in the sector have the option to either collaborate with local developers or venture out independently, concentrating on branding their companies with their desired products and identifying the specific clientele they aim to cater to.
As Ghana’s economy continues to recover, the attraction for expatriate companies, foreign investors, and expatriate workers will continue to open up different needs in the housing sector, requiring new investments to meet these needs.
While the opportunities keep growing, the development expert said investors in the sector need to be intentional about delivering top-quality developments to meet the taste of their clients. “And once you’re able to do that, I believe that development would always thrive.”
“I think that investing in real estate is still the safest bet. You know, with the current turning around in the economy, I think that it is a good time to invest in housing, and there are still many areas to explore,” he stated.
On the prevailing atmosphere in the housing market, Quaye said there are a lot more clients with particular tastes, looking for customized properties to a certain level, certain standards, and in particular environments.
With such changing tastes, he said the Ghanaian industry is also adapting and taking advantage of the situation to develop and introduce new models into the market with their aesthetic effects on the skylines.
Quaye added that the Ghanaian industry is becoming keenly competitive as developers from China, Turkey, Lebanon, and India have been entering the market and offering their products with attractive terms.
On local capacity, he said Ghana has both the financial and technical muscles to deepen the development of the sector, as has been demonstrated over the years by local housing companies.
According to him, Devtraco, where he is responsible for development, started off 30 years ago with the vision of one man and, through local financing and technical expertise, has risen to the top as one of the most celebrated real estate companies in the country and is competing with all international developers, incorporating Ghana’s culture into its designs.
Locally, he said the company is adding the development of hospitality facilities to its portfolio, with Pelican Hotel managed by Aleph Hospitality as its first hotel in Ghana.
“Now, we are no longer thinking only of Ghana. We’re now thinking Africa. We’re thinking about how Africa plays an integral part in development worldwide, and that is what the Devtraco Group stands for. We stand not just for the present but also for the future,” said Quaye.
According to UN-Habitat, Ghana’s nearly 32 million population had a quantitative housing deficit of 1.8 million, meaning “the country needed about 7.2 million extra rooms in 2020 to address the housing deficit.”
Justice Lee