AfDB supports mortgage finance in Ghana with $15 million loan

In a bid to enhance its mortgage loan portfolio and help develop an effective affordable mortgage finance sector in Ghana, the African Development Bank (ADB) has approved a US $15-million senior loan to GHL Bank Plc.

According to a statement from the development bank, the loan will enable Ghana’s lower-middle and middle-income earners to now have greater access to long-term affordable mortgage finance.

“The loan will have multiplier effects on housing sector industries and employment in the mortgage value chain. It is said to complement the government’s efforts to develop a self-sustaining long-term affordable mortgage market and encourage orderly urban development for providing basic utilities such as water, sanitation, roads and electricity,” the statement said.

The intervention is in line with ADB’s High 5 agenda and specifically “improving the quality of life for the people of Africa,” and would complement the Bank’s current initiatives to support affordable housing and development of mortgage finance institutions in Africa.

AfDB supports investments that help widen and deepen financial systems in Africa, and that enable the private sector to mobilize and access long-term local currency funding from local financial and debt markets.

GHL Bank Plc. was previously the only specialized mortgage finance institution in Ghana, helping to address the national housing shortage by providing long-term finance to lower-middle and middle-income new homebuyers.

It has disbursed over US $191 million in mortgage loans, benefiting more than 3,000 households, serving the majority of Ghana’s urban and suburban centres.