SA Affordable Housing September / October 2020 | Page 26

RENTAL
Rental housing markets in
Africa and Covid-19: Part 1
By Jean Philippe Ado of the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF)
What impact does the pandemic have on these markets
and what measures are needed to ensure their resilience?
This paper is written in two parts. This part (Part 1)
discusses the purpose of our interest in rental housing
markets in Africa during the Covid-19 pandemic.
CAHF
Africa’s housing finance markets are developing and investors have struggled to find targets in the residential real estate
space that are sufficiently substantial and/or accessible to warrant their attention.
The paper highlights briefly the challenges faced by the
different parties involved in this sector and offers a brief
definition of rental residential market. It also discusses why
we consider the African residential market during the pandemic
and presents some interesting measures undertook in developed
economies toward the resilience of their rental residential markets.
Since the beginning of March this year, almost all countries
around the world have introduced measures to protect their
citizens and their economies exposed to the threat of the
Covid-19 pandemic. This has included voluntary or forced
lockdown measures, quarantine, curfew, and compliance with
basic hygiene rules, among other steps. Although certain
features of the measures implemented have been similar,
countries have adapted these to their own circumstances.
While commendable, it is necessary to recognise the
indirect consequences these measures have had on various
national, regional, and international economies. The real
estate sector as a whole has felt economic repercussions that
24 SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2020 SAAffordHousing saaffordablehousingmag SA Affordable Housing www.saaffordablehousing.co.za