CAHF is building a database to boost housing sector investment in Africa. Photo: John Hogg/World Bank |
[6 March, 2012] -- Investor interest in housing and property in Africa has grown substantially in the past ten years. Driven, in part, by new market opportunities created by economic growth and a rising urban middle and lower middle class, investors are looking for specific housing initiatives on which to place their bets.
However, they face certain challenges in finding housing-related data for the region. For instance, there are gas in data on the size and scope of the demand for affordable housing, amount invested in each country for affordable construction and finance as well as affordability and profitability of investments in inexpensive housing.
In an effort to overcome this, the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance (CAHF) in Africa is building a database to support investors and other practitioners in housing finance in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The objective of this exercise is to identify the housing and housing finance sector data needs of potential investors in SADC, and to develop a sustainable and cost-effective mechanism for delivering the data and indicators necessary to support growing housing investment markets throughout SADC.
Specifically, the CAHF is seeking data that is investor-led and supports existing investment expectations. It should also offer insights that would lead potential investors to consider new or increased scope and scale of investments in affordable housing and housing finance opportunities, especially those which will reach lower income earners.
To make this data-gathering exercise as useful as possible, CAHF is asking for inputs from investors and housing finance practitioners in the SADC region.
Please visit CAHF’s website for information on how you can contribute to the project.