Real Estate Sector: Ghana’s Minister for Works and Housing Lauds the SuCasa Properties Model

Under the auspices of the Graphic Communications Group and the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA), the 2nd edition of the Real Estate Experience, a housing fair, occurred at the Silver Star Tower, Airport City Accra, from the 1st through the 3rd of December 2022, powered by Republic Bank. This year’s event was dubbed: “Home Ownership through Collaborative Efforts of Individuals, Institutions and Industry.”

The event witnessed the assembling of some of Ghana’s real estate industry giants including: SuCasa Properties, Star Properties, Regimanuel, Lake Side Estate, Dzata Cement, Ghana Cement (GHACEM), amongst others, as well as mortgage financiers like Republic Bank, the Headline Sponsor of the event. Speaking at the launch event on the 1st of December 2022, the Minister for Works and Housing, Hon. Francis Asenso-Boakye, elucidated on the Real Estate Act 2000 (Act 1047), which supports the emergence of the Real Estate Council – the body mandated to regulate agency activities and practices, commercial transactions such as purchasing, rentals and leasing of real estate. Even though the Council is yet to be operationalized, its mandate would ensure a regulatory scheme for all actors in the industry, such as brokers, agents, developers, marketers and managers of real estate; the overarching purpose of which is to ensure harmonization of standards and best practices withing the housing market when its mandate is set in full force of operation.

Visiting the SuCasa Exhibition Booth on his round of inspection itinerary, the Hon. Minister Asenso-Boakye was thrilled with the SuCasa’s model of development, which hinges on the “Off Plan” approach. The Minister, extoled SuCasa Properties chiefly for its practice of selling its various housing products in Ghana cedis and the reasonably competitive prices for its products, which really reflects and defines affordable housing scheme in the real sense of the concept. He further, expressed the government’s readiness to engage with the SuCasa brand and the way forward to providing for the country’s housing infrastructural need. Currently, Ghana’s housing infrastructural deficit stands at 1.8 million units with an average annual demand of 85,000 units.

Currently, SuCasa Properties is rolling out its promotional package for its 2-bedroom, 3-bedroom and 4-bedroom facilities located at East Legon Hills and Ayi Mensah all in the Accra metropolis of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. For the benefits of this promotion, which ends on December 9 2022, the 3-bedroom property which would under normal circumstance have gone for the cedi equivalent of $70,000 is now sold at 560,000 Ghana cedis and the 4-bedroom which under the normal market price would have sold for the cedi equivalent of $105,000 is selling for 840,000 Ghana cedis instead, and finally the actual market value of the 2-bedroom facility of a cedi equivalent of about $30,000 is now sold for 400,000 Ghana cedis. But for this promotion, which hinges the cedi value of the properties at an exchange rate of 13.5 cedis to the dollar, the actual market value of the properties in the cedi equivalent would pretty much be determined by the prevalent exchange rate to the dollar at any given point in time. This suffices to conclude that the best season to grab this opportunity for homeownership with SuCasa would be now!

Under this unique promotion therefore, the consumer is offered the opportunity to make a 70% down payment of the property value of choice, and reimburse the remaining 30% evenly through January to March 2023, before the December 9, 2022 deadline. Apart from this special arrangement, SuCasa offers various payment options for its customers, even post this current promotional period, and that includes a 6-month payment policy, 1-year payment plan with an interest rate of 12%, 2-year payment policy with an interest rate of 15% and a customized payment policy, that allows the individual consumer to design and scheme a suitable payment plan that best suits their budget in line with the company’s corporate interest.

The 3-day event, also, factored in various seminars on Green Building, Affordable Housing, Mortgage Financing and sourcing, and Land acquisition (the Land Act 2020, Act, 1036 in focus). Green Building supports the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 15, which stipulates among other best practices requirements, that the buildings use responsibly sourced materials, reduce the use of water, and respect the biodiversity and the environment surrounding the buildings.

GREDA has developed these 15-point checklist as the yardstick for Green Building and sustainable development viz.

1. Do you attend trainings?
2. Does your building have access to natural views?
3. Does your lighting system ensure visual comfort?
4. Are materials manufactured domestically in Ghana?
5. Does building materials require no maintenance before use?
6. Does the building have appliances of 4-star rating and above?
7. Does the building have clothes drying area for solar drying?
8. Was solar incorporated to save energy costs?
9. Does the building rely on daylighting to reduce artificial light usage?
10. Does the building have roof overhangs?
11. Is the roof insulated with plywood or felt?
12. Are there provisions for roof rainwater collection?
13. Are there provisions for ground rainwater collection?
14. Does the building have a grey or black water treatment facility?
15. Are windows designed for cross ventilation (tropical design)?

For the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association, answering, YES to all these set of questions qualify your property to be on the Green Building agenda – considering the geo-political landscape environment and biodiversity factors. Notably, SuCasa answers YES to all these benchmarks, which means at SuCasa, they Build Green!

Article by Daniel Kofi Awuku-Asare (PRO, SUCASA PROPERTIES GH)

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