Stocktaking of the
Housing Sector in
Sub-Saharan Africa
Summary Report© 2015 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
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Stocktaking of the housing sector in Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing rapid urbanization
as well as a growing slum population.
1.2 billion
urban residents
by 2050

4.5 million new residents
In informal settlements
each year

Many households cannot afford basic formal
housing or access mortgage loans.
$1,699
GNI per capita

5% of adults took a mortgage loan
from a formal bankin the past year

Obtaining formal housing is often costly, with cumbersome
regulatory requirements and a backlog of basic infrastructure.
Registering property
costs 8.3% of the value

162.2 days to obtain aconstruction permit, on
average

50 years to reach full
infrastructure coverage

Yet a well-functioning housing market can be a vital economic
sector and a potential source of job creation.
Housing investments
represent 6% of GDP

5 jobsper house built

Countries can expand access to adequate housing and improve thequality of existing stock by promoting incremental upgrading,extending basic infrastructure, addressing constraints for housing
suppliers, and improving access to housing finance.

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

Contents
Abbreviations .........................................................................................................................vii
Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................................ix
1. The Link between Urbanization and Housing in Africa ........................................................ 1
2. Understanding Housing Delivery in Africa: Value Chains ...................................................... 5
3. Supply-Side Challenges to Housing Delivery......................................................................... 8
Land Administration, Planning and Construction Standards .............................................................. 9
Infrastructure ...................................................................................................................................... 9High Cost of Housing Construction ................................................................................................... 11
Affordability Gap for Formal Housing ............................................................................................... 11

4. Demand-Side Challenges to Housing Access ............................................................................ 14
5. Addressing the Housing Challenge in Africa: A Way Forward ............................................. 15
Cross‐Cutting Solutions for the Housing Sector ................................................................................ 17
Engaging Informality toward Inclusive Housing Policy ..................................................................... 17
Harnessing the Formal Housing Sector for Economic Growth.......................................................... 20

References............................................................................................................................. 21
Notes ..................................................................................................................................... 23v

Summary Report

List of Figures
Figure 1. Housing Investment and Per‐Capita Income, SSA (2011) and the World (1960‐2011) ................................................................................................................................................ 2
Figure 2. Estimated Urban Population Living in Slums by Region, 1990‐2030 ............................................. 3
Figure 3. Distribution of Urban Population by Shelter Deprivation, sample countries(2005) ............................................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 4. Simulated Cost to Provide Formal Housing Units for Selected Countries, 2015‐
2030 as percent of GDP (2014) ....................................................................................................... 6
Figure 5. A Continuum of Informality in Housing ......................................................................................... 7
Figure 6. Informal Supply and Demand Side Value Chains for Housing Delivery ......................................... 8
Figure 7. Average Time and Cost to Obtain a Construction Permit in Sub‐Saharan African
Countries and International Benchmarks ...................................................................................... 10
Figure 8. Infrastructure Service Coverage by Household Budget Quintile in SSA ...................................... 10
Figure 9. Relationship of Income to House Prices in SSA............................................................................ 11
Figure 10. Housing Cost Comparisons: Formal vs. Informal in Zambia, Malawi, andLiberia............................................................................................................................................. 12
Figure 11. House Price‐to‐Income Ratios for Government Social Housing Program in
Cameroon ...................................................................................................................................... 13
Figure 12. Sources of New Formal and Informal Loans in SSA ................................................................... 15
Figure 13. Key Activities for Improving Access to Quality Affordable Housing .......................................... 16

List of Tables
Table 1. Comparative Summary of Housing Delivery Conditions in SSA ...................................................... 6
Table 2. Overview of Core Interventions across the Continuum of Formal and Informal
Households .................................................................................................................................... 18

vi

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abbreviations
ACSI
AICD
BHC
CAHF
CCODE
FAR
GDP
GHC
GNI
HAT
HMF
IHDP
IMF
MFI
MINHDUMIPROMALO
NBFC
NGO
NHC
NMRC
OECD
PMI
ROSCA
SACCO
SME
SNEN
SSA
TCO
TCUL
WB

Amhara Credit and Savings Institution
Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic
Botswana Housing Corporation
Center for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa
Centre for Community Organisation and Development
Floor to area
Gross domestic productGhanaian cedi
Gross national income
Housing affordability tools
Housing microfinanceIntegrated Housing Development Program
International Monetary Fund
Microfinance institutions
Ministère de l'Habitat et du Développement urbain
Local Materials Promotion Authority
Non‐banking financial companies
Non‐governmental organizations
National Housing Corporation
Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company
Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development
Primary mortgage institutions
Rotating Savings and Credit Associations
Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations
Small and medium enterprises
National union of teachers, Niger
Sub‐Saharan Africa
Total cost of occupancy
Total cost of urban living
World Bank

vii

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

Acknowledgments
This Report on Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub Saharan Africa was carried out by a team fromthe World Bank in collaboration with international and local experts across the region.
The team was led by Jonas Ingemann Parby (TTL, Urban Specialist) and Nancy Lozano‐Gracia (Co‐TTL,
Senior Economist), and included David Ryan Mason (Urban Specialist), Somik V. Lall (Lead Economist),
Basab Dasgupta (Economist), and Cheryl Young (Economist). The report benefited from contributions ondata analysis and executive summary from Annie Bidgood (Urban Specialist) and Narae Choi (Urban
Specialist). Somik V. Lall, Nancy Lozano Gracia and Basab Dasgupta delivered the paper on Urbanizationand Housing Investment and Cheryl Young and Nancy Lozano‐Gracia worked on Housing Consumption
and Urbanization. The team from the Affordable Housing Institute, led by David Smith, provided important
input and analysis in the development of the methodological approach, the data collection process, andin the drafting of the report. The team would like to thank Roland White (Global Lead, City Management,
Governance and Financing) for extensive and detailed technical advice and guidance throughout the workon this report.
The team is grateful to the peer reviewers Angelica Nuñez (Senior Urban Specialist), Ellen Hamilton (Lead
Urban Specialist), and Simon Walley (Lead Financial Sector Specialist) who provided invaluable feedback
throughout the process of developing this report. Sameh Wahba (Practice Manager) provided valuable
technical guidance to the team and overall guidance. Sonia Wheeler provided timely and comprehensive
administrative support throughout.
We would like to extend our thanks to the Governments of Nigeria, Cameroun and Ethiopia for the
excellent collaboration during the course of developing the country study case studies. The case studies
were carried out by a team on international and local experts, including Michael Mutter, Tony Lloyd‐Jones,
Simon Gusah, Michael Majale, Benoit Mougoué, Graham Tipple and Elias Yitbarek Alemayehu.
The team would also like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Multi Donor Sustainable
Development Trust Fund.

ix

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

1. The Link between Urbanization andHousing in Africa
Africa is rapidly urbanizing and will lead the world’s urban growth in the coming decades. Currently,
Africa is the least‐urbanized continent, accommodating 11.3 percent of the world’s urban population, andthe Sub‐Saharan region is the continent’s least‐urbanized area. However, the region’s cities are expanding
rapidly—by 2050, Africa’s urban population is projected to reach 1.2 billion, with an urbanization rate of
58 percent (UN‐HABITAT 2014). With this rate of growth, Africa will overtake Asia as the world’s most
rapidly urbanizing region by 2025 (UN 2014). Although the nature and pace of urbanization varies among
countries, with over a quarter of the world’s fastest growing cities, Africa is undergoing a massive urban
transition.
Globally, cities are major drivers of economic growth, and the quality and location of housing has longterm consequences for inclusive growth. People migrate to cities in search of economic opportunities
and cities attract firms and investment because of the concentration of a diverse labor pool. With the
productivity gain of agglomeration, urbanization and per capita income growth tend to happen
concurrently. For most households, purchasing or building a house is the single largest expenditure they
will ever make. A home is also typically the most important household asset and an investment that canappreciate in value over time, be used for collateral for borrowing and be an important component ofintergenerational wealth transfer through inheritance. Where housing is located in proximity to schools,
jobs and transit access, this directly impacts the quality of urban life and prospects for social mobility(World Bank 2013).
However, in Sub-Saharan Africa, urbanization is not accompanied by the level of per-capita economic
growth or housing investment that is observed elsewhere in global trends. Incomes in Sub‐SaharanAfrica (SSA) have not kept pace with urbanization, which, in many African countries, has not necessarily
been accompanied by industrial growth and the structural transformation as has occurred in otherregions. For example, SSA reached 40 percent urban in 2013 with a GDP per capita of $1,018; East Asiaand the Pacific reached the same level of urbanization in 1994 at $3,617 per capita, the Middle East andNorth Africa in 1968 at $1,806 per capita, and Latin America and the Caribbean in 1950 at $1,860 per
capita. In some cases in SSA, migration from rural to urban areas has also been driven by “push” factors
such as poor yields from agriculture (Barrios et al. 2006). Housing stocks, along with investment andemployment in related construction and finance industries, constitute a major component of national
economic wealth. The key challenge for African cities, however, has been the comparatively low growthin per‐capita income, which limits the resources that households have to consume or invest in housing.
At the same time across the region, the formal channels through which quality housing is produced andfinanced face major constraints that limit access to a large share of urban households. Hence, the formal
housing sector is only a small part of the economy because the construction and finance services have very
little effective demand, evidenced by the lack of formal investment in housing across the region. Recent
studies have found that in Africa, formal housing investment (in national current accounts data) lags behindurbanization by nine years (Dasgupta et al. 2014). Furthermore, the capital investment in infrastructureneeded to handle rapid urbanization typically happens (if at all) after housing has already been built, often
in informal settlements.

1

Summary Report
As urbanization continues, investment in formal housing is failing to keep up with increasing housingneeds. Urbanization, driven both by the migration of people to cities and by natural population growthwithin cities, will continue to be the key demographic force shaping housing needs. Figure 1 shows thatwhile across the world, housing investment and gross domestic product (GDP) follow an S‐shaped curve,with the slope rising between income levels of US$3,000 and US$36,000. Most of SSA countries are below
US$3,000 per‐capita GDP and as such have yet to approach the point where higher levels of investment
in housing is likely to begin (Dasgupta et al., 2014). The majority of housing investment in most Africancountries currently comes from government investment or domestic savings rather than finance obtained
through international capital markets as is the case in developed economies.

Figure 1. Housing Investment and Per-Capita Income, SSA (2011) and the World (1960-2011)

Source: Calculations from World Bank data.
Note: Curve line drawn from all available data 1960‐2011.

A lack of quality housing stock is common throughout SSA. In the absence of consistent and reliable
data, however, identifying the quality or quantity of housing deficits (formal and informal) is extremely
difficult, and requires careful conceptual clarity about existing stock, occupancy, and household sizes.
The definitions and methodologies used by governments to estimate housing deficits vary widely. In
general, housing shortfalls can be calculated based on three different qualities: (i) the numerical shortfall
in dwellings (deficit); (ii) the qualitative shortfall in physical conditions (obsolescence or substandard
construction with non‐durable building material); and (iii) the space shortfall within dwellings(overcrowding). Under this approach, total housing stock is an aggregate of different shelter types (newunits and existing units) and tenure arrangements (rental vs. ownership for example). These approaches
rely on estimates of new household formation and an ideal occupancy ratio per dwelling unit, which may
not reflect typical conditions. They also overlook how much of the existing housing stock can be improved,rather than replaced. Further, the UN estimates that more than 200 million people in the region will live2

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa
in slums by 2020 (UN‐Habitat 2014). The slum population is growing at 4.5 percent annually, a rate which
will result in doubling the slum population in 15 years (Marx et al. 2013). After this period, the majority of
the world’s slum dwellers will live in African cities; currently all other regions are experiencing a rapid
decline in the prevalence of slums (See Figure 2 below).
Figure 2. Estimated Urban Population Living in Slums by Region, 1990-2030
Millions
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

2020

2025

2030

Sub‐Saharan Africa

Middle East & North Africa

Latin America & Caribbean

South Asia

East Asia & Pacific

Europe & Central Asia

Source: UN 2014.

Assessing the quality of current housing stock reveals broad differences in the nature of housing
challenges faced by different countries in the region. A 2005 (UN‐Habitat 2008) survey of housing quality
in Africa classified housing quality in terms of deprivations associated with slums (lack of: durable housing,
improved water and sanitation, tenure security and adequate living space). Figure 3 below shows the portionof total housing stock for select countries in the region divided according to deprivation type. It shows, forexample, that nearly half of the housing stock of Sierra Leone (47.2 percent) has just one deprivation,
while by contrast in Sudan, about 67 percent of housing units have at least two or three deprivations,
resulting in a large share of the housing stock reflecting characteristics of slums. By contrast, in Ghana,96.7 percent of households have access to a durable shelter, 83 percent have access to improved waterand 76 percent have improved sanitation (UN‐Habitat 2008). Such data show that housing conditions
reflect a spectrum of quality deficiencies, with most housing stocks lacking at least two basic standards.
The findings suggest that the quality of the existing housing stock in a number of countries can be
improved rapidly with targeted interventions to improve particular areas of deficiency.1
Institutional, regulatory, and technical weaknesses across the housing sector impede the delivery of
quality housing at the scale needed to accommodate anticipated urban growth, let alone tackling theexisting stock’s deficiencies. Due to this, the majority of housing remains informal. Although the housing
sector in Africa is highly heterogeneous with substantial differences between countries, some consistentpatterns emerge as a function of low income levels limiting demand for formal housing, and of overall3Summary Report
poorly functioning housing markets (including land markets, infrastructure and services, access to housing
finance and the construction and development industries). Due to these constraints to the housing
production and consumption systems, in many countries, housing produced through formal channels is
far too expensive for most people. Instead, informal channels have become the dominant housing delivery
system across the region, known to contribute around three quarters of the total housing stock (althoughdata on the informal housing sector in Africa is scarce).
Figure 3. Distribution of Urban Population by Shelter Deprivation,
sample countries (2005)
Percent of the urban population
0

20

40

60

80

100

Sierra Leone
Sudan
Niger
Ethiopia
Mozambique
Tanzania
Mali
Nigeria
Burkina Faso
Côte d'Ivoire
Kenya
Cameroon
Ghana

One
Two
Three

SenegalSouth Africa

Four

Zimbabwe

Source: UN‐Habitat 2008.
Future urbanization poses unique and urgent challenges for the provision of adequate housing. Accessto a diverse, quality and affordable housing stock will set a foundation for inclusive growth in rapidly
urbanizing cities. The housing sector, including housing finance, construction and development activities,
can contribute to a substantial portion of the domestic economy. It can catalyze employment across theseindustries, which will further enhance growth. Urbanization also shapes the supply and demand for
housing beyond cities; as rural residents typically leave behind self‐built homes and migrate to cities insearch of a better life and future, they find that they cannot build or afford urban housing. The key
challenge is to resolve a spatial mismatch in which the concentration of population and employment exists
within the city, but housing costs tend to be lower on the urban periphery or in rural areas because suchlocations are farther away from jobs and services and these units largely do not have infrastructure
connections. Due to lower land costs, peripheral urban areas attract migrants and settlers despite the lackof government capacity to extend roads, water and sewer pipes, and electricity grids into these new
expansion areas. While housing options in these areas may be affordable to the urban poor, the additionalburdens imposed by long commute times, public health problems from inadequate water and sanitationand the lack of education and health services represent substantial indirect costs to the households andthe economy.

4Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

2. Understanding Housing Delivery in Africa:
Value Chains
Formal housing is the product of specialized supply and demand-side value chains. Housing ‘formality’typically means a home that (i) has valid legal title, (ii) is structurally sound and complies with local
planning standards and building codes, and (iii) can be pledged as collateral for a long‐term mortgage
loan. Formal housing units with such qualifications are the product of coordination between public andprivate sector activities, involving land, infrastructure, design and construction on the supply side, and acorresponding set of demand side inputs related to housing finance.
The value chains that support the production and consumption of formal housing in Sub-Saharan Africa
are weak and oriented toward high-income groups. Specific conditions for formal housing provision, suchas sources of private capital and deep public sector attention to infrastructure‐appropriate regulations
and standards, have emerged in developed economies over a long time but do not hold well in the housing
sector in developing countries. This is particularly the case in Sub‐Saharan Africa, where formal housing
accounts for only a very small segment. The SSA context is rather characterized by low per capita incomes
and barriers that raise the cost of building and consuming housing. These barriers include weak land andproperty titling systems, unreliable and incomplete infrastructure grids, and limits to capital markets forproviding sources of consumer and developer finance. Table 1 compares a formal housing delivery system
typically found in developed economies with common conditions found across SSA to identify systemic
gaps or blockages in value chains, develop cross‐country comparisons, and to illuminate importantfunctional processes within the housing value chains that are often overlooked, especially within theinformal system.
The cost for providing formal housing, whether through private developers or through the governmentis prohibitively high. Furthermore, given the prevalence of low household incomes and lack of access tocredit, very few people could afford to purchase these houses. Figure 4 below demonstrates the challengeof provision of low‐cost formal housing from now through 2030. The figure provides a simple estimatebased on forecast urban population growth, assuming an annual household formation rate of 3.5 percent
across the region and a housing unit cost based on the lowest priced formal unit available on the market.
It demonstrates that providing only additional housing (apart from upgrading the existing stock, forexample) would be very costly and address only part of housing need.
As a result, the informal delivery of housing as a less expensive alternative has been the norm in SSA,
while formality is the exception. Informal housing is defined by deviations from the laws and regulatory
frameworks that govern formal access and use of land and buildings (UN‐Habitat 2003). Since informal
economic and social systems operate with indifference to, and in non‐compliance with, the formal
regulatory and administrative structures, informal housing delivery networks are not well‐studied andquantitative information about the scale and depth is scarce and non‐standardized.2 Nonetheless,informal housing in SSA shares one or more of the following characteristics:

5Summary Report

Table 1. Comparative Summary of Housing Delivery Conditions in SSA
Housing Delivery Component
SupplyFormalCommon SSA condition

Land Tenure and Administration Freehold or leasehold title; title
or deed registry

DemandCompeting tenure systems and or absence of
title: Squatting, land invasions, illicit
subdivision and sales

Planning Standards andRegulations

Compliance with floor area ratio Variation in site density, design and lot(FAR), plot coverage, sitecoveragesetbacks, heights, building codes

Construction sector

Sector with professional, licensed Self‐built, or use of informal unlicensed
contractors/workers
laborers

Building Materials

Mass produced materials withstandardized quality

Variation in type and quality of materials:
Scavenged items, traditional manufacturing
techniques, some use of manufactured
materials where they can be obtained

Infrastructure

Trunk lines and utility
connections

No trunk lines: Illegal wiring, pit latrines,
household cisterns

Formal savings accounts

Savings account deposits used
for mortgage lending

Little formal savings: Reduces capital
available for lending to consumers ordevelopers

Underwriting and verification

Assessment of income andcreditworthiness to create
mortgage terms

Lack of formal income and land or property
title for collateral: Reduces eligibility for
housing subsidy programs, raises risks profile
for commercial mortgage lending

Mortgage loans

Long term loan for obtaining
complete, titled house

Few mortgages: Most households use
personal savings, microcredit, savings groups
and/or other non‐commercial sources

Figure 4. Simulated Cost to Provide Formal Housing Units for Selected Countries, 2015-2030 aspercent of GDP (2014)
As percent of GDP (2014)

Ghana
AngolaBenin
Burkina Faso
BurundiCameroon
Central African Rep.
Niger
SenegalTanzania
Togo
Zambia0%50%

100% 150% 200% 250% 300% 350% 400% 450%

Source: WB Staff calculations using CAHF and UN data.

6

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa








Located at the urban periphery or within the interstices of the formal city (e.g. non buildable orrisk areas).
Self‐designed and self‐built with local materials.
Does not fully conform to building and land use standards.
Poorly serviced by infrastructure networks and public services.
Financed out of family/group savings and/or loans from informal lenders.
Incrementally improved by the occupant over a long period of time.
Lacks legal title and often subject to insecurity of tenure

Informal housing represents a spectrum of different shelter locations, conditions, and tenure status.
Informal housing is not necessarily equal to slum housing. Rather, informality represents a continuum of
housing conditions, ranging from units without access to any improved infrastructure, absent compliancewith planning and building standards and lacking land and property tenure security to units withsequentially greater levels of permanence, tenure security and quality. While the precise degree and costrequirements of housing standards have long been debated (Payne 2001; Cohen 2007), the definition of
informality allows for wide variation in the type and quality of housing (see Figure 5 below). Indeed, global
experience suggests that it is common for informal housing conditions to improve incrementally over timethrough infrastructure upgrading, self‐built construction, and tenure claim recognition (Payne and Majale
2004; Payne 2005; Choguill 1999).
Figure 5. A Continuum of Informality in Housing

Source: World Bank data.

Comparing formal and informal value chains will identify areas for policy attention to improve thefunction and overall affordability of the housing sector. The informal housing sector has a separate,
parallel value chain system but, in many areas, this value chain cannot adequately provide quality housing
for the majority (see Figure 6 below). The purpose of the value chain approach is to map out the main
constraints for supply and demand that impact the housing sector’s contributions to domestic economies
and its power to provide affordable housing at scale.
The key issue is not an absolute lack of housing supply but instead a very limited provision of quality
housing within the continuum of informal conditions shown above. The challenge for policy makers is toimprove housing delivery value chains in a way that allows residents to steadily transition toward moreformal housing conditions. At the same time, improvements to formal sector value chains can reduce thecost of construction and broaden access to finance for consumers and developers.

7

Summary Report

3. Supply‐Side Challenges to Housing Delivery
Formal housing affordability is constrained by challenges to realizing key supply inputs. These inputs
begin with the cost and time necessary for obtaining, transferring, and developing land for residential use.
Second, network infrastructure—roads, power, piped water, sewage/drainage and so forth to service
residential land—is lacking and very expensive to build retroactively in settlements that do not have suchconnections. Most SSA countries also lack the institutions and capacities to capture land value in waysthat can be used to finance these types of public infrastructure investments. Finally, the cost of building
the dwelling is very high due to the cost of construction materials (such as cement) and absence of arobust construction sector. The scarcity of these inputs drives up the cost of formal housing for all
residents, forcing the majority of low‐income and middle income groups to seek other housing options
that are often of lower quality and may be without secure tenure.

Figure 6. Informal Supply and Demand Side Value Chains for Housing Delivery

Source: World Bank data.

8

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

Land Administration, Planning and Construction Standards
Land tenure and administration systems complicate the function of land markets. The plurality of tenuresystems found across the region (and often even within the same country) discourages the market‐based
circulation of land because rights to control or exchange land may be unclear and subject to dispute. Landadministration systems such as registries and cadaster records are incomplete and are underused for
enforcing legal claims or fiscal obligations of land holders, diminishing the ability for lenders to use landas collateral. Building standards and regulations, particularly with regard to minimum plot sizes, density
and land use intensity, discourage the efficient development of urban land and place additional burdens
on infrastructure provision. Each of these factors raises the cost of housing by increasing the costs of land
assembly, raising the risks for investment, and making infrastructure extensions less cost effective.
Tenure systems often do not support the emergence of land markets. In many areas land is subject totenure regimes that limit the ability of markets to circulate land or to define and protect development
rights. These issues are particularly complicated owing to the array of different tenure systems across theregion and within individual countries, as well as the general lack of a consolidated, efficient land
administration system in many countries.3 For example, customary tenure may only allow land to beacquired or transferred with the consent of a local tribal council or leader (Toulmin 2005). In some countries,
such as Ethiopia, the government has sole control over all land and ultimate control in land administration
issues that can limit the private use and exchange of land and property. Where land is expensive to acquireor where tenure rights are difficult to obtain and protect, housing costs will inevitably be high.
The time and costs required to meet construction and development standards discourage informal
sector developers from compliance (Figure 7). This arises partly because the enabling environment oflaws and regulations is structured on the implicit assumption that property is formal and building codes
must apply to all forms of construction. Building standards tend to be excessive and minimum lot sizes,
for example, costly. The result is per‐activity costs that render smaller formal housing unaffordable whilesmaller informal housing is affordable.

Infrastructure
Across the region, recent data suggests that infrastructure coverage overall is actually declining due torapid population growth in urban areas and inability of core utilities to maintain existing infrastructure
stock and expand service coverage in new areas. In 2010, when the SSA urban population reached 37
percent, only 34 percent of urban residents had access to piped water, down from 43 percent in 1990.4 In
many of the larger SSA cities, up to around 1950, developed areas tended to be fully serviced. However,as these cities rapidly grew in the pre‐ and post‐independence period, service provision fell behinddevelopment. This occurred particularly in the informal areas where houses are often built before the plot
is hooked up to water, electricity, and sanitation. The sequence of infrastructure planning and investment
in informal settlements is the opposite of that in wealthier neighborhoods. The formal process of plan‐
service‐build‐occupy is reversed into occupy‐build‐service‐plan (Baross et al. 1987). Infrastructure
coverage in SSA is mostly directed toward wealthier groups who are also better able to self‐provide forservices that local governments and utilities do often not cover (such as sanitation). For the poorest 60
percent, however, coverage is less than 10 percent for most infrastructure services (Figure 8).

9Summary Report
Figure 7. Average Time and Cost to Obtain a Construction Permit in Sub-Saharan African Countries
and International Benchmarks

Source: Generated using World Bank 2016, Doing Business data.

Figure 8. Infrastructure Service Coverage by Household Budget Quintile in SSA

Source: Banerjee et al. 2008.
Note: Data are latest available as of 2006.

10

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

High Cost of Housing Construction
The cost and availability of quality construction materials are a major impediment to reducing the costof all types of housing. There are few local production sources for high quality construction materials,
and government and private sector developers tend to prefer imported materials. Imported materials
ultimately increase the cost of housing for consumers, as developers must include the cost of materials in
the final price of a complete house. On the other hand, self‐builders cannot afford materials necessary tomeet standards. The region also faces a challenge of scaling up the complementary service industries—
architectural design, construction inspection, property valuation and appraisal, title review andverification, title insurance—that in other contexts have expedited the value chains and reduced themarginal cost of housing construction and consumer finance by building houses at scale. The lack of skilledarchitects, construction managers and laborers reduces the quality and consistency of the housing stockand limits the potential to develop economies of scale in housing development.

Affordability Gap for Formal Housing
Formal housing remains too costly for most people due to low incomes. This affordability gap isexacerbated by weaknesses in the housing sector such as difficulty acquiring land, the high cost of
construction, scarce infrastructure provision, and the lack of access to finance. These factors constrain
both the ability of households to consume housing and the quality of housing that is available, which is
why informal housing is for most people the lowest cost option. Figure 9 shows 2011‐2013 data from theCenter for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa (CAHF) on the price and size of the least expensive newly
built house by a formal, private developer in select countries.5 The mean per‐capita income is US$1,764,
while the average house price is US$31,085. The red band in Figure 9 identifies the price of an affordable
house within a range of three to five times the average annual household income, a standard affordability
measure. It shows that the cost of most houses is far outside this range.6

20,000100,000
GNI per capita, US$

GNI per capita, 2012 (US$)

16,000Cheapest Newly Built House

80,00012,00060,0008,000

40,0004,000

20,000Price of cheapest newly built houseby a formal developer in 2013 (US$)

Figure 9. Relationship of Income to House Prices in SSA

Average0Seychelles
MauritiusSouth Africa
Botswana
Namibia
AngolaSwaziland
Nigeria
ZambiaGhana
Lesotho
Cote…
Cameroon
Kenya
SenegalSouth…
Zimbabwe
Tanzania
Benin
Burkina…
RwandaMali
UgandaMozambiq…
GambiaTogo
Central…
Ethiopia
Niger
MalawiBurundiAffordability
Range

0

Source: CAHF 2013.

11

Summary Report
The variation in cost across the region also likely reflects different weaknesses within housing delivery
systems. For example, Gambia and Democratic Republic of Congo are two countries with low per‐capita
incomes, but have among the highest housing prices—more than twice those of Botswana and South Africa,
which have higher per‐capita incomes. However, other low‐income countries, such as Mali and Niger, haveamong the lowest costs for formal housing. Of the 25 countries in SSA that are listed in the CAHF data, only
five countries (South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Mali) have a Gross National Income (GNI) per
capita higher than or on par with the least expensive formal dwelling. While GNI per capita is a roughmacroeconomic proxy for affordability, this finding points clearly to a gap between what the formal sector
can provide and what SSA populations need.7 This means that in order to address the large majority ofthe population, policymakers must focus on cross‐cutting drivers that increase the costs of housing andon improving the conditions of the existing (formal and informal) housing stock.
Conventional measures of housing affordability may even under-represent the actual demand. Due to
low incomes, most urban households have very limited resources to spend on housing. Recent researchfinds that for households in low‐income SSA countries, food expenditures alone account for 50‐60 percent
of total monthly expenditures, which leaves very little—and comparatively much less than in otherregions—for housing or other necessities such as fuel, transportation, education or health care (Lozano‐
Gracia and Young 2014). Yet, for policymakers, ‘affordable housing’ typically means market‐quality formal
housing that can be consumed by households that cannot afford the typical market price. In developed
countries, housing is considered “affordable” if households spend no more than 30 percent of income on
rent or mortgage service plus other housing costs (utilities, etc.). Figure 10 depicts the variation in
consumer ability to pay and the price differential between formal and informal housing options fromselect countries. Affordability in SSA differs from affordability in developed economies, and affordability
in Zambia differs markedly from affordability in Malawi, though in each case the formal housing
alternative is more expensive than typical affordability thresholds. Common measures of affordability
then do not provide the most accurate picture for many countries throughout SSA.
Figure 10. Housing Cost Comparisons: Formal vs. Informal in Zambia, Malawi, and Liberia$60,000$50,000$40,000$30,000$20,000$10,000$210$0
Zambia (2011)
Ability/Willingness to Pay

Malawi (2010)
Price of Cheapest Formal Housing Unit

Source: UN Habitat Housing Sector Profiles.

12

Liberia (2013)
Price of Informal Unit

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa
Government subsidy programs have done little to promote wide-scale housing affordability. For
example, over the course of more than 40 years, Nigeria’s Federal Housing Authority had met only 15
percent of its goal of supplying 261,000 units (2012). An alternative subsidy program of discounted credit
to developers has encouraged land speculation rather than housing production (Abdullahi and Aziz 2011).
In Tanzania, housing parastatals compete directly with the private sector, but provide units affordable tomiddle and upper income groups. In other countries, such as Zambia, Ethiopia and Liberia, housing subsidy
programs are aimed at a single city, or in the case of Ghana, a single tenure type (homeownership). The
government of Cameroon allocated US$50.1 million to fund the Government Program of Construction of
10,000 Social Housing Units and Development of 50,000 Buildable Plots in 2009. Despite the ambitious
targets, only 1,175 units have been built as of 2015. Moreover, 80 percent of Cameroon’s population
cannot afford these social housing units. Figure 11 shows that in conventional affordability terms, theseunits are far outside of the typical price‐to‐income range of between 3:1 and 5:1, with prices 44‐51 times
typical income levels. Indeed, even for public employees, price‐to‐income ranges for homes in thesedevelopments range between 10.5‐13.5 median incomes, or two to three times conventional affordability
thresholds.
Figure 11. House Price-to-Income Ratios for Government Social Housing Program in Cameroon
38,456$40,000

33,472$35,000

60

56.5

34,76949.2

51.1

30,001$30,000

50

44.1
40

$25,000$20,000

30$15,000(Average Income USD)
Price (USD)
Price to Income Ratio

20$10,000$5,000

$680

$680

$680

$680

10

Price to Income Ratio of 3:1 and 5:1$00Olembe 1

Olembe 2

Mbanga‐Bakoko 1

YaoundeMbanga‐Bakoko 2

DoualaSource: World Bank, Cameroon Country Case Study.

There are two main limitations to the reach of government subsidy programs. First, they are often poorly
designed, lack targeting and monitoring criteria, and end up being captured by wealthier individuals that
could otherwise afford market‐rate housing. This is the case for government‐built housing units in a
number of countries. Second, governments, like any other housing developer, must contend with thesame structural limits in the supply and demand value chains. These inputs—including land,
infrastructure, construction materials, and technology as well as consumer and developer finance—allraise the production cost of housing. Even subsidized prices remain unaffordable for low‐income groups
and are not financially sustainable to bring to scale to meet demand. As such, in such situations, subsidies
end up compensating for housing market dysfunctions and inefficiencies in place.

13

Summary Report
Renting deserves additional policy attention as an affordable housing option, particularly in the context
of self-built housing. Across the region, the market for formal rental units is weak and is directed toward
urban professionals.8 Most African governments began halting investments in rental housing during themid‐1980s, as the approach fell out of favor due to inefficiency. Much of the existing rental stock consistsof institutional housing built by government ministries, local authorities, or major industries9 for theirworkers. Formal rental housing is also out of reach of most of the urban poor. The Nigeria case study
report finds that 60‐70 percent of low‐income households are not able to afford the least expensive rental
accommodation on the open market (around US$1,200 per year in major cities), of which there is anegligible supply. Petty landlordships and subletting arrangements can provide affordable rental housing
and generate income. As incremental self‐built housing becomes increasingly challenging due to the highcost of urban land, rental and home‐sharing options are becoming more popular. Rental rooms are also
provided by owner‐occupiers (or even renters) as extra rooms or buildings adjacent to their own dwelling.

4. Demand‐Side Challenges to Housing AccessHousing finance options for low-income groups are limited. Across the region, the majority of residents
does not have formal savings accounts and are not able to obtain mortgages for housing consumption.
Only 24 percent of the adult population 15 years or older in SSA holds an account at a formal financial
institution; the same holds true for 12 percent of adults in the bottom 40 percent of income levels. Only
6 percent of adults received a loan from a financial institution in 2014. The lack of savings reduces theamount of finance available for lending institutions to develop consumer mortgages or other lending
products. The major source of housing investment is from household savings and government investment,
rather than capital markets. This can crowd out public investment in other important sectors such as
education, health and infrastructure. The lack of credit for development finance limits investment indomestic construction activities that could provide housing at scale.
Most housing is built incrementally, which is reflected by the most typical sources of housing finance:savings and small loans. The majority of urban residents build shelter themselves or through theassistance of local laborers. Without access to mortgage finance to purchase complete homes, housing isbuilt incrementally with investments from individual savings, remittance transfers, and participation insavings cooperatives or through the use of microfinance. The expansion of microfinance lending for small
and medium enterprises has given more low‐income groups access to relatively affordable finance andbanking services. Housing microfinance, though currently limited in its scope in SSA, could be a way tobridge the gap between small, short tenor microloans and large, long tenor mortgages, with a loan
product tied to construction material discounts or technical assistance.
Borrowing and saving with formal institutions such as commercial banks is rare in SSA, and themortgage sector remains underdeveloped. The use of formal loans for housing consumption in SSA isvery low. Estimates indicate that in 2011, 85 percent of Africa’s urban population lacked access to formal
housing loans and only 3 percent of the population was eligible for a conventional mortgage (Kihato 2013).
Instead, alternative forms of borrowing and saving are popular, including remittances, informal loans fromfriends or family, and the use of community savings clubs. In 2012, 40 percent of adults received a loan
from family or friends, and 19 percent saved using a community‐based savings club (nearly half of those
who reported any savings saved with these clubs). Nine percent of the total population and 39 percent of
those with formal accounts used them to send or receive remittances from family.

14

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa
Figure 12 shows, SSA has the highest percentage of adults borrowing from friends or family compared toother parts of the world. There are also significantly higher percentages of informal lending, and relatively
lower percentages of lending from formal institutions (bank, credit union, MFI) (Kihato 2013).

Figure 12. Sources of New Formal and Informal Loans in SSA

Source: World Bank 2012; Demirguc‐Kunt and Klapper 2012.

5. Addressing the Housing Challenge in Africa: A Way
Forward
Housing has important and overlapping impacts on economic growth and social inclusion. The housing
sector provides thousands of jobs in construction, manufacturing, and finance. A house is also the mostvaluable asset most people will ever own. Quality affordable housing can reduce the vulnerability of thepoor to the effects natural disasters and advance human development goals if linked to water andsanitation infrastructure, as well as schools and health facilities.
Sound policy interventions need to focus on improving the functionality of both supply-side anddemand-side value chains in both the formal and informal housing arenas. Housing affordability will
improve not only with general economic expansion and income growth, but also with housing policy thatboth supports the incremental improvement of informal housing conditions for the majority of people
and strengthens the function of the housing sector to bring down costs and expand the reach of the formal
housing sector to lower income groups. Enhancing institutional capacity both in government and within
the capital markets will be critical. Governments and other decision‐makers in Sub‐Saharan Africa shouldbe equipped with a comprehensive understanding of the housing sector in the region and in theirindividual countries.

15

Summary Report
Governments have a particularly strong role to play in ensuring housing affordability, through targeted
investments in infrastructure for low income groups and through regulatory measures to improve thefunction of value chains. Governments should prioritize the scare resources available for housing andinvest them in the expansion of basic services (land and infrastructure) for low‐income households.
Complementary to this, governments should seek to address core bottlenecks in regulatory frameworkfor formal and informal housing and introduce initiatives to improve the markets for housing inputs (land,building materials, and finance), thereby enabling households in all income segments to improve theirown housing and move up the housing continuum. Experience shows that governments across the region
have had difficulty promoting sustainable, broadly affordable housing through direct supply of units due
to targeting problems and cost constraints. The key challenges for improving the quality of existing
housing stock and expanding new housing at affordable levels are to lower the costs of inputs for housing
across the entire sector, while at the same time expanding access to different types of credit needed,
including commercial mortgages, and developer and secondary finance. Informal housing delivery
channels will require incremental and parallel improvements in expanding access to savings, small loans
and construction materials. Supporting institutional and regulatory frameworks must also evolve toensure that construction and development standards provide a level of safety and security, but are not so
restrictive or costly that they are ignored. Governments have a role in enabling housing markets andengaging the private sector to expand access to adequate shelter and to be a vehicle for economic growth.
Figure 13. Key Activities for Improving Access to Quality Affordable Housing

Complementary interventions can be targeted across three areas of the housing sector: (i) addressing
constraints that cut across formal and informal market sectors, (ii) addressing informality, and (ii)harnessing housing for growth by expanding access to finance. Figure 13 summarizes key activities for
improving access to quality affordable housing. A number of cross‐cutting solutions will improve thefunctioning of the sector as a whole, for both formal and informal channels. These include functioning

16

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa
land markets and administration, flexible or incremental planning, design and building standards and theinclusion of new and alternative building materials and techniques. Regulatory measures for rental
housing markets can improve its provision across income levels and shelter types. For informal
settlements, targeted and incremental improvements in infrastructural access along with the use of
informal sources of credit for self‐built housing can improve housing quality and reduce overcrowding.
Within the formal sector, support for the expansion of finance for long term lending through mortgages
and developer finance will also improve the delivery of housing both for ownership and rental.
Investments in these cross‐cutting activities as well as the informal housing sector will broaden access toquality affordable housing from the bottom up, while also reducing obstacles for formal investors anddevelopers to build affordable housing at scale.

Cross‐Cutting Solutions for the Housing Sector
Land, planning and construction issues affect the delivery of all housing. Improvements in these areas
form the foundation for addressing informality and for catalyzing growth in the formal housing sector aswell as the broader domestic economy. They can improve both the ability of low‐income households toobtain land and build their homes incrementally and also for formal developers to assemble land for new
construction. Urban planning standards and regulations can improve densities and facilitate more efficientinvestments in network infrastructure and reduce the costs and time necessary to complete construction
for both informal and professional developers. Land use planning and infrastructure directly influence theform of cities, the mobility of residents, and the ease with which they can access jobs and services. Finally,
governments should promote the adoption of low‐cost but superior materials and technology for homeconstruction. Local sourcing of materials and the adoption of affordable, high‐durability building
technologies would help these products reach the scale necessary to include informal dwellers, and also
stimulate labor participation and investment in the construction sector as a whole. And essentially, hand‐in‐hand with legislative reform must be the buildup of institutional and technical capacity—education,accreditation, and training—so that new rules are consistently enforced as intended.

Engaging Informality toward Inclusive Housing Policy
Improving access to quality housing requires identifying how informality can be changed over time. Thismeans that policy initiatives must act with both a long term and short term view; long term toward avision of the end state, and short term so that each incremental initiative is sound both for the long term
vision (i.e. enabling further innovations and buildup) and in the local political economy (i.e. aligning withlocal interests, priorities and capacities). The best avenue to improving access to quality housing in Sub‐
Saharan Africa is by addressing improvements in value‐chain systems by degrees and steps. Incremental
improvements for the informal sector will reduce their distance from total formality according to different
sections of the value chains. If the housing challenge is to be effectively addressed by increasing the quality
and stock of housing, the importance of the informal sector must be effectively recognized in both the
supply‐side and demand‐side value chains (see Table 2 below for details).

17

Summary Report

Table 2. Overview of Core Interventions across the Continuum of Formal and Informal Households

Planning
Standards andRegulations

Improve city
planning andcreate more
flexibleregulations andstandards

Construction
sectorStrengthen thecapacity of theconstruction
sector, improveaccess to financefor developers
and builders to
expand theirbusinesses

SupplyLand TenureandAdministration

Strengthen
cadaster andland registrysystems andlandmanagement
practices

Building
Materials

Infrastructure

18

Improve thequality and scaleof local building
material
manufacturers

Targeted
investments ininfrastructure
and informal
settlement
upgradingFormalHousingSlum Conditions

Partial Upgrade

Semi-Formal

Assessment oflocation andresettlement options
to reduce hazard
exposure;
Improvement ofprotections for land
tenure claims andregularization;
Street addressing

Improvement ofprotections for land
tenure claims andregularization;
Adaptation ofcustomary land
administration
systems for
subdivision

Digitization andimproved accessto records andreduction inregistration
time and costs

Digitization andimproved
access torecords andreduction inregistration
time and costs

Flexibility and gradedstandards forincremental
improvement

Flexibility andgraded standards
for incremental
improvement

Consistentdesign, layout
andconstruction
standards
supporting
compact
development

Consistentdesign, layout
andconstruction
standards
supporting
compact
development

Availability of quality,
low cost materials forself‐builders andcontractors

Availability ofquality, low costmaterials for self‐builders andcontractors;
Training andlicensing systems to
improve capacityand quality ofbuilders

Access tofinance fordevelopers andconstruction
firms

Access tofinance fordevelopers andconstruction
firms

Support fordomestically
produced, quality
building materials;
Realignment ofbuilding standards andcodes to support awider variety of lower
cost material
substitutes

Support fordomestically
produced, quality
building materials;
Review of VATs andtariffs imposed on
imported building
materials

Support fordomestically
produced,
quality building
materials;
Review of VATs
and tariffs
imposed on
importedbuilding
materials

Support fordomestically
produced,
quality building
materials.
Review of VATs
and tariffs
imposed on
importedbuilding
materials

Explore partnerships
with community
organizations andservice delivery agents

Grid/arterial‐based
land planning for
futureinfrastructure
extension;
Targeted
infrastructure
investments basedon specific criteria;
income, tenure
status, disaster risk,
etc.

Assessment of
options for self‐
finance for
infrastructure

Inclusion ofdevelopment
fees, special
assessmentsforinfrastructure
provision innewconstruction

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

Table 2. Overview of Core Interventions across the Continuum of Formal and Informal Households

DemandFormal savings
accounts

Underwriting
and verification

Mortgage loans

Support thedevelopment ofalternative
finance sources
for the urban
poor; housing
microfinance,
creditcooperatives,
savings groups,
community
mortgages

Assessment ofincome andcreditworthinessto create
mortgage terms

Reform thecommercial
lending sector toallow access tolonger termsources offinance todevelop a morecompetitive
mortgagemarketSlum Conditions

Partial Upgrade

Semi-Formal

FormalHousing

Promote a model forincreasing familiarity
and access to credit
and financial services

Stocktaking andsupport of non‐banking financial
institutions

Assessment of
options forprovident
funds/ formal
employercontributions

Assessment of
options forprovident
funds/ formal
employercontributions

Assess alternative
ways of identifying
creditworthiness ofborrowers for smallloans for incremental
improvements

Use of cooperatives
or collective
ownership schemes
to off‐load new
development;
Mobile banking for
improving loan
servicingUse ofcooperatives orcollective
ownership
schemes to off‐load newdevelopment;
Mobile banking
for improving
loan servicing

Improve
capacity ofcredit bureaus
Regulatory
reform to
improve loanclosing,underwriting
and foreclosure

Support for housing
microfinance, savings
groups, cooperatives
and other forms ofnon‐bank lending

Support for housing
microfinance,savings groups,
cooperatives andother forms of non‐bank lending

Support for
housing
microfinance,savings groups,
cooperatives
and other forms
of non‐banklending;
Disclose criteria
and target
groups for any
consumermortgagesubsidy
Rent‐to‐own
arrangements

Supportdevelopmentof additionalliquidity
throughsecondarymarkets

Low-income and informally housed groups can improve their access to housing with infrastructure
upgrading and support for incremental housing finance. This approach engages and enhances theshortcomings of existing informal housing development channels and is better suited to the abilities oflow‐ and middle‐income groups to pay. This would require developing and experimenting with new
housing microfinance products, such as tools and best practices, and disseminating them throughout thesector across the region. These financial products could be combined with subsidies for low‐cost materials
and construction technology, increasing access to these products and initiating a source of investment in
the domestic building materials industry. Lending institutions also need greater policy support for more
flexible lending terms, collateral requirements and more capacity to draw from client savings in order todevelop and secure new loan products for housing. On the institutional side, governments can prioritize
infrastructure investments to low‐income and service‐deficient informal settlements (such as subsidies

19Summary Reportfor utility hook‐up costs) using explicit targeting criteria. Finally, governments can improve tenure security
by initiating or scaling up land and property tenure regularization, which is a proven incentive forhouseholds to invest in housing consolidation and expansion.

Harnessing the Formal Housing Sector for Economic Growth
Though the formal housing sector in most of Sub-Saharan Africa is small, government support canencourage the expansion of the formal housing delivery system down market, while at the same timeenabling the formal housing sector to become an important driver of the national economy. Presently,
most housing investment occurs through household savings or direct government investment, rather thaninternational capital markets. Improving formal lenders’ access to capital markets will strengthen
mortgage markets and increase competition among lenders. Housing delivery also requires coordination
with actors from overlapping sectors, such as construction firms, real estate agencies, appraisers, property
managers and others, that face impediments to growth. Allowing banks to more easily obtain secondary
finance improves the variety and accessibility of consumer mortgages and sources of developer finance,
which in turn stimulate both local and national economic growth.

20

Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Banerjee, Sudeshna, Quentin Wodon, Amadou Diallo, Taras Pushak, Hellal Uddin, Clarence Tsimpo, andVivien Foster. 2008. “Access, Afford‐ ability, and Alternatives: Modern Infrastructure Services inAfrica.” Background Paper 2, Africa Infrastructure Sector Diagnostic, World Bank, Washington,
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limited/.
———. 2013. 2013 Housing Finance Yearbook. Parkview, South Africa: CHAF.
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Improvement.” Habitat International 23(2): 289‐301.
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Dasgupta, Basab, Somik V. Lall, and Nancy Lozano‐Gracia. 2014. Urbanization and Housing Investment.
Draft Report, The World Bank.
Kihato, Michael. 2013. “State of Housing Microfinance in Africa.” Centre for Affordable Housing Financein Africa.
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Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa

Notes
1

These data are about 10 years old and it is likely that the extent of these deprivations has narrowed given steadyGDP growth across the region of 2‐4 percent during this period.
2
The scarcity of data is due to a tendency by governments and the private sector to privilege the formal housing
delivery system in their analyses and assessments. This is in part due to experience in developed countries but also
because traditional tools for assessing the housing markets rely on data sources that assume a formal delivery
system.
3
Land administration refers to the rights afforded by different tenure categories, the development rights afforded
to land, the procedures required to obtain and transfer land, as well as any system of fees or taxes enacted to capture
value from land.
4
Progress on drinking water and sanitation, 2012 update (UNICEF/WHO).
5
Housing price data are collected through a convenience sample of private developer respondents. Housing quality
and sizes, along with the cost of land vary between countries.
6
Mean housing costs, mean per‐capita incomes and the affordability range band is plotted against the right handvertical axis.
7
CAHF’s data is limited because it refers to the least expensive dwelling provided by the private sector only andneglects any dwellings provided by government housing programs. It is also unclear how much, if any, subsidies are
hidden in these house prices, such as discounted construction materials or the allocation of public land at below
market prices.
8
The providers of such housing are often members of the national elite who see the commercial sense of building
for rent or who may build for their retirement and rent out to expatriates in the meantime. This is notably common
in Lesotho (personal communication, Kabelo Lethunya, Chief Housing Officer, Government of Lesotho, Maseru).
9For example, council‐built and mine workers’ housing in the Copperbelt of Zambia form a significant percentage ofthe housing stock.

23