FINANCE MATTERS
2020 Housing Finance in Africa Yearbook launched
Contributed by CAHF
The COVID-19 pandemic and country lockdowns have brought the state of housing into sharp focus : many households in Africa do not have a home they can comfortably stay in .
This is one of the problems identified in the latest edition
of the Housing Finance in Africa Yearbook , launched in
November 2020 by the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa ( CAHF ) during the African Union for Housing Finance ( AUHF ) virtual conference .
Decent housing remains out of reach for most people because they cannot afford even the cheapest newly built house by a private sector developer . The World Bank estimates that 40 million people in Africa will be pushed into extreme poverty post Covid-19 .
According to Kecia Rust , CAHF Executive Director and founder , “ The year 2020 will be remembered as the year we all stayed at home . In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic , governments across the continent implemented stringent lockdown regulations . Aside from the economic impact of lockdown regulations , the pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the persistent state of disaster in which a majority of urban households across the continent live , whether in informal settlements , tenement blocks , inner city buildings , lower-income townships , or suburbs ; and whether they rent , or own , or share their homes .”
Rust says that significant opportunities exist to drive incremental home improvement products and finance , and these will also help the progress of the Sustainable Development Goals . Good housing , she adds , drives access to basic services and profoundly improves the health and wellbeing of low-income households .
The Housing Finance in Africa Yearbook provides a general overview of housing , housing finance and property markets in each country ; however , its main focus is on affordable housing solutions for the lower income market . In its first edition , in 2010 , the Yearbook included only 15 countries . It now includes short , four-page profiles for all 55 countries , as well as an overview of affordable housing markets . Since 2017 , the Yearbook has been published in both English and French . Data for the sector remains scarce and producing the Yearbook involves a massive data collection by over 44 experts from across the continent — to identify developments in the different countries . Each country profile includes a set of key indicators , drawn from international sources . CAHF also has its own data with a set of 34 indicators collected by the Yearbook authors in each country , touching on all aspects of the housing construction value chain and the main elements of residential property markets .
“ The Housing Finance in Africa Yearbook provides a general overview of housing , housing finance and property markets in each country ; however , its main focus is on affordable housing solutions for the lower income market .”
The pandemic made this on-the-ground data collection more difficult when people were in lockdown and organisations short-staffed .
The constraints arising from the COVID lockdowns also made 2020 a difficult year for construction and put pressure on house prices , making housing even less affordable . It has also meant that governments need to do more with less . UNCTAD report estimates that economic activity in African economies will contract by 1.4 % in 2020 , with smaller economies contracting by as much as 7.8 %.
In this context , CAHF argues for the investment in housing and infrastructure by all sectors to rebuild economies , create jobs , stimulate markets , while at the same time provide households with improved living standards , which has a direct impact on health outcomes too .
The 2020 Yearbook is the 11th edition and is available online at www . housingfinanceafrica . org .
CAHF www . saaffordablehousing . co . za JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2021 19