GHANA PROPERTY AWARDS CELEBRATE THEIR 13TH 2021 EDITION.

Updated by November ,28, 2021

Ghana Property Awards in collaboration of Housing and energy industry sectors have been honouring the best of the industry players in Ghana’s Property and Infrastructure Market. For more than 30 years, the country Ghana has benefitted from the immense contribution of GREDA and others in providing housing solutions to address the long – standing housing deficit challenge.

For the past 12 years Ghana Property Awards (GAPOA) an NGO have been identifying, recognizing and awarding the hardworking and excellent Businesses in the Property and Infrastructure Sector.

This year’s annual event which is the 13^th edition of Ghana Property Awards was a wonderful ceremony, which came off on Saturday, 20th November 2021 at the Accra International Conference Centre. The event was under the theme “Get Ghana Housed”.

In this year’s 13^th edition, the event recorded low number of attendees as compared to the previous editions due to the corona virus pandemic. The occasion was grace by the ECOs and management of housing and infrastructure, residential developers, construction companies, real estate developers, financial institutions and individuals. Their objective is to encourage excellence, innovation, competition and competitive pricing to the benefit of the final user, the (Ghanaian) consumer.

Madam Josephine Esi Kpesese who spoke on behave of the MP & Minister of State in Charge of Affordable Housing at the Ministry of Works & Housing said, in this age of falling building standards and some unscrupulous players in the property sector, the importance of the sector being monitored and awarded cannot be understated.

Madam Josephine emphasised that, the Ministry of Works and Housing is very much aware of the challenges facing the housing industry. Prominent among them are difficulties in accessing unencumbered land, access to finance, high cost of mortgage, and litigations arising from multiple sales of land, skilled labour and allied issues. These are challenges, which I agree, require immediate remedial measures if the industry is to live up to expectation and to its mission of building for the nation as a low- middle income country pursing an accelerated development of economic and social infrastructure.

She explained that, finding simple but workable solutions to these challenges is the crux of your existence and we recognise the indispensable role of private sector investment and Public Partnerships (PPP) in addressing the financing gap and improving the quality of housing. It is therefore incumbent upon all of us as stakeholders in the housing and construction industry to redouble our efforts at finding ways of reversing this trend since the private sector participation in financing, managing and operating Ghana’s housing assets portfolio, has been identified as key to helping the country achieve its housing and infrastructure goals.

She concluded by saying, the recipients of awards shall therefore have been deemed by competent judges to have complied with the required regulations, and have made significant contributions to housing provision and the infrastructure markets in Ghana, thus gotten Ghanaians housed. The awards should spur them to improve on their performances and seek better ways of improving housing delivery in this country.

Director of Ghana Property Awards, Madam Irene Agyenkwah said in a speech that, the outlook for the industry really looked bleak. However, there are signs that the enterprise, ingenuity and dynamism of the Ghanaian is leading to a rebound of the sector.

She explained that, the casual study of the market will indicate that there is no shortage of supply, but rather, a mismatch between supply and demand. The costs of securing a piece of land and building inputs are so astronomical that, an overwhelming majority of Ghanaians cannot afford what is on offer – from Estates, Apartments, Condos, to individual built rental units.

Ms Irene further explained that, the industry is in a bounced – back – mode, the supply and service sector has been the drivers of the economy and play a special role. This is evident in the shortage of all components of raw materials across sectors. Our focus this year is mainly on the service and the supply sector. With their ingenuity the industry has started to flourish again. This is evident in our chosen categories for this year’s awards. It’s time to raise the toast, honour those whom honour is due and celebrate our successes in such difficult conditions. We are not yet where we want to be, but we have really come far, and it’s worth celebrating.

Mr. Patrick Ebo Bonful GREDA President who is the chairman for the event said, housing is a major tool for creating wealth, and this is especially for the low income to middle income bracket. Hence over the past three decades, the quest for housing ownership in Ghana has increased tremendously. For many households it constitutes a big chuck of the household budget.

He added that, research has also shown that low levels of incomes accounts for the inability of most people to access home finance mortgages to acquire their home. According to reliable reports home mortgage finance penetration rate in Ghana as of 2017 was as low as 1.4%.

Mr. Patrick explained that, in our effort to provide decent accommodation for the populace, we must not lose sight of existing norms, cultural and traditional ways around which our society – urban, peri- urban and rural have provided for its own accommodation needs and satisfactorily evolved over the years.

He concluded by saying, we have to revisit the use of clay bricks both hydraulically compressed and burnt as well as the use of wood and bamboos in our residential building construction methodologies today. This will go a long way to help reduce the effect of rising cost of building materials.

There was also some representative of the special guest of honour for the event. The ministry encouraged the recipients of awards to be deemed by the competent judges to have complied with the required regulations, and have made significant contributions to housing provision and the infrastructure markets in Ghana, thus gotten Ghanaians housed. The awards should also spur you on to improve on your performances and seek better ways of improving housing delivery in this country. The MC of the event Mr. Kwame Insaidoo thanks and wishes the organizers and also the awards winners’ success and encourages them to do their best for more houses next year.