Clifton Homes: Discussing the Impacts of COVID on the Real Estate Market in Accra

Ann Brewin, CEO of Clifton Homes, discusses the impacts of COVID on the real estate market in Accra and talks about the importance of urban wellbeing, as well as providing quality facility management services amidst challenging times.

“In terms of learnings from the pandemic, over the last 18 months, obviously, every single real estate market in the world has been impacted by COVID and we saw the immediate impact of that in mid 2020 here. The lockdown came very quickly. Understandably, people are more cautious with their investment decisions given all that uncertainty. We saw a couple of months where that hesitancy was really apparent. But then, straight after those couple of months, the sales rebounded. The Lennox, our property in Airport Residential in Accra sold out and the sales and inflows rebounded very quickly at the end of last year and we actually exceeded our growth expectations for this year. In terms of the impact, it was sudden, but it was relatively short. Now that we have had a bit of time and space to look back on the last year and a half, there are a few key learnings and things that became apparent throughout the pandemic which have helped drive our sales growth. One of those which is really important is reliability. In Ghana, Accra is littered with projects which are not finished yet, that got delayed, that have been canceled. During the COVID period, because of economic uncertainty, logistical challenges faced by the construction industry, everybody can see that those problems have worsened. To us at Clifton Homes, we take our commitment to deliver very seriously. We were determined to keep it that way despite the pandemic. We were happy to deliver Embassy Gardens in December 2020, with our Phase D clients getting their keys ahead of schedule, and we will be happy to hand over to our Lennox clients in Airport Residential in just a few months’ time now in Q2 2022. That reliability has become more important. It has always been important to intelligent investors in Ghana, but COVID has made it even more so. The second key learning that we have seen is the importance of what we call urban wellbeing. We talk about this a lot and we are big advocates of it. It is the ability of the built environment to impact people’s health and happiness. During the pandemic, this has become starkly obvious. All over the world, urban residents who lost their ability to carry out their normal social connections, access to green space, access to fitness facilities, suffered the most in terms of mental and physical wellbeing. But those residents who were lucky enough to live in well-designed city developments, well-designed city communities, were supported by their built environment. That really proved to us why this philosophy is so important. At Embassy Gardens, our residents there throughout the pandemic had access to three swimming pools, the gym, green spaces, and also the comfort and security of knowing that utilities and the basic, everyday elements were being taken care of. Another learning for us has been the importance of facilities management. It was not just a learning for us but a learning for buyers as well when uncertain times come around the corner. Around the world, suddenly, everybody was put in a situation where they had to spend 90% to 100% of their time at home. So, the security and the comfort of that home became so much more important suddenly. In a communal development, that very much relies on the quality of the facilities management team. In Accra where lots of areas suffer power outages, water outages, it is even more important because of the need to ensure a reliable service in terms of those basic utilities. At Clifton Homes, we develop and then manage all of our developments ourselves post completion. In those first few weeks of COVID, I was so grateful for that because it meant we could take swift, proactive action, and we were not relying on a subcontractor who was being challenged left, right, and center from all their clients. We were able to put our residents first. We immediately increased our stocks of fuel and water and we immediately implemented increased cleaning and hygiene protocols. Because of the uncertainty of the situation, a lot of our clients were worried about security in general in Ghana, so we increased our security protocols, as well. Once those essentials were taken care of, we turned our attention to some of the other aspects. In terms of our facilities management staff, we were able to bring the maintenance team on site and have accommodation on the site so that despite the travel restrictions, they were there for our clients 24 hours a day. Another example is that we arranged door to door delivery for our residents who were at some of our developments and stuck in quarantine. So, the facilities management team really came into their own over the past couple of years. It has been a challenging time and there is a steep learning curve because nobody has faced this situation before. But it has been a really useful experience and our facilities management team was strengthened as a result. Clients now are putting an increased focus on that when they are making their buying decisions”, says Ann Brewin.

“The resilience of the Ghanaian real estate sector speaks volumes that this year, 2021, will be a record year for Clifton Homes in terms of sales, which is incredible given the global turbulence we have had over the last period. Our buyers understand the long-term structural drivers of growth in the Ghanaian real estate sector and all they want is a developer that can help access that and a reliable developer who can weather the storms when they come. We have been delighted to see that robustness in sales, but also in the rental market which is another great indicator. In the middle of 2020, the lettings sector was hit hard across the city as travel restrictions came in. But by Q1 of 2021, our customers’ portfolios were back to where they were just 12 months before, seeing our typical 10% to 14% yields. That resilience in the sector is good, not just for Clifton Homes, but for the future development of Accra in general”, she adds.

ABOUT CLIFTON HOMES: In 2021, Clifton Homes celebrated a decade of real estate development in Accra. In that time, Clifton has been the fastest growing developer in Ghana, completing 8 projects on time within buyer’s contractual deadlines, most recently Embassy Gardens in Cantonments. Clifton Homes is proud of its track record and ongoing commitment to delivery. A key contributing factor to the company’s delivery, apart from plain hard work, is its integrated model which provides control over timings and quality throughout the build programme. Clifton Homes manages its projects from design conception through to post-handover facilities management and that means its long-term interests are aligned with the buyer’s. The company is currently developing Loxwood House, an example of modern urban living located at the very heart of Accra.

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