About 90% of housing delivery in Ghana is currently driven by gradual self-financing, highlighting the limited access to formal mortgage financing and the challenges facing prospective homeowners.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the National Housing Fund Limited (NHFL), Prosper Hoetu, Ghana’s mortgage penetration stands at just 0.3% of GDP, leaving a large proportion of the population to rely on their personal savings and other informal sources of financing to build their homes.

He said the reliance on self-financing also contributes to the prolonged period it takes many Ghanaians to complete their houses, with the average construction period estimated at about 10 years.

Speaking at the Opening Ceremony of the National Conference on Housing Finance on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, Hoetu said the situation demonstrates that Ghana’s housing challenge is not only about the availability of houses bust also the availability of affordable, long-term financing to enable people to purchase or complete homes.

“About 90 percent of housing delivery takes place through incremental self-financing. On average, it takes about ten years for people to complete their houses. The formal real estate sector is currently able to deliver only about ten percent of our housing needs,” he said.

He also emphasized that the formal real estate sector currently delivers only about 10% of Ghana’s housing needs, further underscoring the need to expand financing options for both prospective homeowners and developers.

He said the financing gap is particularly significant for households that cannot meet the requirements of conventional mortgage providers.

Hoetu further opined that the challenge extends to Ghana’s large informal-sector population, many of whom may have the capacity to repay a loan but lack conventional documentation such as pay slips and the banking records required by mortgage providers.

“Last month, the Fund resumed lending under the National Mortgage Scheme at an interest rate of 8.4 percent, down from 13.5 percent. Developer financing is now at 10.4 percent. This has been made possible through prudent management of the economy and a blended financing arrangement between NHF and our partner financial institutions. The response has been very encouraging,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the NHFL is developing a Country Housing and Urban Development Partnership Strategy following a diagnostic assessment of Ghana’s housing sector conducted with Shelter Afrique Development Bank and the Ministry of Works, Housing and Water Resources.

The strategy is expected to provide a framework for mobilising resources and investment into the housing sector.