legally-built private homes in the region, at
$5,800 (plus another $1,000 to $4,000 for
land, depending on location) are out of reach
for most. It is no surprise that sub-Saharan
Africa has the smallest mortgage market in the
world. Just 3.7% of adults in urban areas had
any type of home loan in 2011, according to
a World Bank report released earlier this year.
The value of Nigeria’s mortgages more than
quadrupled between 2006 and 2011, but was
still equivalent to no more than 0.5% of GDP,
compared with more than 25% in South Africa.
That won’t change until more of the region’s
land is registered (just 10% was in 2013) and
the tangles of state and customary ownership
are resolved. Rwanda’s computerised land
registry is the kind of reform that might help.
It cut the time it takes to transfer a property
from a year to a month. Countries from Ghana
to Uganda are trying similar reforms. African
cities will also have to invest huge sums in
sewage systems, roads, water and other
infrastructure if they want to house the millions
of people who are likely to move there in the
coming years. In the meantime Africa’s slums
will continue to swell.
62
FARMERS GAZETTE
November 2015