Members of the Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) have expressed their readiness to partner corporate organisations and individuals in order to meet the housing needs of Ghanaians. Mike Puplampu, Vice President of GREDA, who spoke in an interview with this reporter on Friday in Accra, said the association needed about $6.5 billion to stabilize the country’s housing deficit which currently stands at 500,000 over a 10-year period. Investments in the estate development sector last year, witnessed GREDA contributing only 3 percent of mortgages, while 97 percent emanated from foreign remittances through Western Union Money Transfer. Mr. Puplampu confirmed that the country will have to construct about 130,000 housing units yearly to contain the present situation, stressing that these will be for professional workers within the low to middle management bracket including nurses, teachers, Police personal, among others. The 2-bedroom houses are currently on high demand because of the large family size of Ghanaians and are priced from about $25,000 to $75,000. For over two decades, Ghana has embarked on a comprehensive programme of financial, economic and structural reforms with the objective of reversing the previous declines in the economy. These programmes, which were supported by the IMF, World Bank and other multilateral and bilateral donors, have seen some remarkable progress. The rate at which houses are constructed is less than the growth of the country’s population and has therefore created a big deficit in the country's housing system, particularly in the urban centers. “Ghana’s housing deficit currently stands at 1,300,000 units and there is the need for additional130, 000 units on an annual basis over a ten-year period to make up for the deficit,” Mr. Puplampu emphasized. The increases in population coupled with the rising cost of building materials have caused a sharp increase in the cost of houses and rent; with the Bank of Ghana confirming the situation as the possible factor for the reduced sale of cement, which has fallen by 28 percent. A report by the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing in 2007, put the total cost of Ghana’s housing deficit at $17.25 billion, with an annual requirement of $4.32 billion. Similarly, a study by the Building and Road Research Institute in Kumasi revealed that out of a total housing supply of 40,000 in 2004, supply from private individuals amounted to 38,200 or 95.5 per cent, with the next largest contributor being GREDA. Story by Samuel Boadi/Daily Guide/Ghana