Lack of information limits private investment, Kecia Rust, Executive Director of the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF), said at the conference titled “De-Risking Housing Finance: Mobilizing Private Capital for the Large-Scale Delivery of Adequate Housing” held within the framework of WUF13, APA reports.
She noted that one of the main obstacles to attracting private capital to the affordable housing market is the absence of a reliable and transparent database.
“The main goal of the annual report project, launched 16 years ago, was to collect undocumented information existing in the housing finance sector. During discussions held with companies, lenders and construction firms, it was observed that a large volume of information was not being recorded, and for this reason it was decided to systematize this data,” Kesia Rast said.
She added that in countries where housing finance markets are developed, the key advantage is the accessibility of market data. It was noted that investors only enter markets they understand and can view transparently.
The CAHF executive director particularly drew attention to the situation in Africa, stating that in some countries there are not even accurate statistics on the number of mortgage loans. Although mortgages are considered a regulated financial instrument, such data is expected to exist in central banks. In her opinion, the lack of access to fundamental indicators such as the mortgage-to-GDP ratio complicates market assessment.
“A large portion of people on the African continent work in the informal sector and earn small incomes from various sources. The failure of existing financial and regulatory systems to take this reality into account limits these people’s access to financial services.”
