Unpacking the Structure and Functioning of the Urban Rental Housing Market in Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

Urban Housing in Africa is dominated by the private rental sector. The sector delivers over 90 percent of housing units in urban Ghana. In spite of this, the urban rental housing sector appears unstructured, complex and informal. Using Kumasi as the primary case, this paper sought to answer the following ques ons: How is Ghana's urban rental housing market structured? Who are the main actors in the market and what are their roles? How do the rela onships and ac vi es of these actors shape rental housing? Rooted in the theory of market economy, the study adopted mul ple qualita ve methods, including observa on, focus group discussions; key informant interviews, ins tu onal consulta ons and document reviews to gather evidences. The paper reveals the non-existence of a comprehensive ins tu onal and policy framework for the delivery and management of rental housing; thus, giving rise to informal opera ons of the sector. In the face of rapid urbanisa on and rising costs of housing materials, the supply of rental housing lags behind demand leading to high costs of rent and exploita on by prospec ve tenants.