Real Estate developers urged to be honest

Real Estate developers have been advised against dishonesty and putting up poor quality houses which did not correspond with their high prices.

Mr Kojo Addo-Kufuor, Chief Operating Officer of the Ghana Home Loans (GHL) Company gave the advice at the company’s annual development seminar for developers and construction companies.

He said dishonesty by such developers to their clients, coupled with sub-standard works, were unacceptable practices that must be seriously eschewed in order to build the needed public trust in the real estate sector for sustained growth.

He said the GHL had and continue to receive several complaints from clients with respect to the poor standard of housing properties they had purchased through mortgage facilities.

However the needed platform would be created through such seminars, for enhanced education and networking for industry players, and also ensure the close monitoring of the growth and proper adherence of the rules governing real estate development in the country.

Mr Addo-Kufuor said although the sector had seen significant growth over the years, it was hit badly in 2014 by the unfavorable micro and macroeconomic indicators, leading to a drastic shortfall in business operations, and also uncertainties from the view of funding partners.

This, he said, greatly affected the issue of affordability as most prospective clients could not qualify for mortgage facilities.

He however indicated that on the outlook for 2015, GHL intended to pursue aggressively and identify suitable funding partners to help expand its lending base and sustain its capabilities to assist developers with attractive products for their clients.