After five days of showcasing everything housing under one roof, the 2021 edition of the Ecobank-JoyNews Habitat Fair, ended on Monday.

The fair closed with widespread ecstasy by patrons and exhibitors at the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC).

The exhibition, which begun on Thursday, October 28, 2021, was designed to offer prospective home owners in the country, an opportunity to explore their accommodation options and make informed decisions about where to lay their heads.

According to the organisers, the issue of accommodation has become a daily challenge that continues to bedevil many individuals in the country, especially those within the urban metropolises such as Accra.

In Ghana, issues such as land litigations, conflicts between tenants and landlords and the perennial reports of exorbitant rent charges, access to housing remain a major problem for persons from all walks of life.

To address the litany of problems in that regard, the organisers of this year’s edition of the annual fair, Ecobank and JoyNews assembled over eighty top flight companies in the housing and construction industry to display their products to meet the needs of consumers. While some of the companies displayed already built and completed houses, others showed an array of cost-effective renting and mortgage plans to suit the needs of consumers who wish to rent as well as those who want to live in their own decent homes.

There were also some exhibitors who mounted quality raw materials for persons interested in erecting their own preferred structures to live in.

In all, all the exhibitors who participated in this year’s edition of the Ecobank-JoyNews Habitat Fair showcased competitive products and mouth-watering offers which delighted the thousands of patrons who visited the five-day exhibition.

Some of the elated exhibitors who spoke to the JoyNews team could not conceal their joy at the benefits they reaped from the fair. In their testimonies, despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, they were overwhelmed by the level of patronage and massive show of interest by the general public.

An exhibitor, in recounting her experience intimated that she wishes the fair would be organised monthly. This according to her, is due to the ‘abnormal purchases’ she recorded from the beginning of the fair.

Patrons who visited the various exhibition stands, also gave heartwarming narrations about their individual experiences. In a series of reactions, they lauded the organisers for contemplating such a resourceful programme. According to them, finding a convenient place to stay has become a serious hurdle in recent times. Therefore, the fair is a ‘useful medication for treating the illness in the system’, an exhilarated mother remarked.

A couple of individuals outside the precincts of the venue also applauded the initiative, and commended the high level of publicity that the event generated. One of them, who pleaded anonymity said he heard of the Ecobank-JoyNews Habitat Fair on Twitter, when the fair once dominated the Twitter trends. In his account, this pushed him to subsequently pay attention to the jingles and commercials on television and radio which accompanied the fair. ‘Multimedia and Ecobank force waa … like the thing source’, he praised in pidgin.

Chief Operating Officer of the Multimedia Group, Mr. Ken Ansah, who graced the closing day of the exhibition seized the opportunity to thank patrons and exhibitors for their cooperation and expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the fair, with hopes of more successful exhibitions in the future.

This year’s Ecobank-JoyNews Habitat Fair was under the theme, “Home Ownership – to build or to buy”. Partners who supported the fair till its successful climax included; DBS, Planned City Extension, Duraplast, Sam Renters Paradise and General Construction Limited.