Lamudi Moves To Bring Sanity To The Real Estate Industry

A fast growing global property portal, Lamudi.com.gh, with exclusive focus on emerging markets in the real estate sector operating in twenty-eight (28) countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America has taken the lead in ensuring that the image of the real estate industry in Ghana is protected.

The move, according to Lamudi, has become necessary in addressing key problems that has besieged the real estate sector in Ghana, notable among these problems are: dubious deal of some “road side” agents, high commission rate, multiple ownership of land, use of poor quality building materials, and others.

This came to fore during a round-table discussion held on Monday, 13th October in Accra by Lamudi, on the theme: “Sustainable Real Estate” to deliberate on the way forward and sustenance of the real estate sector in Ghana.

The discussion brought together many industry players including agents, property developers, architects, construction engineers, home and property owners, insurance companies and others.

Speaking with ModernGhana, the Content Manager of Lamudi.com.gh, Mr. Fidel Amoah, said meeting with key players in the real estate industry was also to plan effectively, using a collective ideas from stakeholders involved, the way forward of the sector.

Mr. Amoah said the move was also to promote the use of locally manufactured building materials which were of standard quality and could yield best results when used in building in Ghana, and also to create awareness of some good quality indigenous building materials which were being ignored.

This, he said, would go a long way to help grow the Ghanaian economy by creating jobs for the manufacturers of the local building materials, reducing the high rate of import of building materials into the country, and also help to make property ownership easier and affordable to the average Ghanaian.

The Content Manager of Lamudi.com.gh dispelled the notion that the use of bricks in construction was expensive as compared with imported cement; and also advocated the change of mindset of some Ghanaians who have no regards for local building materials.

“Taking the red soil for example, some people have this mindset that it is used by people living in the villages for poverty reasons. This is actually not true because the red soil had unique qualities of regulating a room's temperature to prevent heat,” he said.

Mr. Amoah called on government and policy makers to ensure that real estate laws are adhered to and expressed the hope that the government and stakeholders in the sector would work hard to ensure that the use of 60% of locally manufactured building materials by 2015 would be adhered to.

An architect with Ortherner and Associates, Mrs. Akosua Obeng reiterated that the use of locally manufactured building materials was very possible, and was the modern way of building with respect to the climate change and global warming, which leads to sustainable agriculture.

“Maintaining an European standard of building is still achievable by using African traditional building styles and locally manufactured building materials,” she disclosed.

She said the use of locally manufactured such as the bricks and red soil were the best way to prevent green houses gases, carbon emission, etc, and also could reduce the importation of building materials which have negative impact on the Ghana cedi.

Mrs. Akosua Obeng noted that her company has adhered to the government policy of the use of 60% local building materials and added that “we only import the materials that we cannot get on the Ghanaian market”.

She mentioned, for instance the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra, which her company used 30% of local building materials; the World Bank Office off the Independence Avenue which used 15% of local content and the Akosombo Retreat in the Eastern Region which met the 60% requirement.

Mrs. Obeng urged all stakeholders in the sector to take the necessary measures to ensure sustainability in the sector.

Lamudi.com.gh is currently the leading real estate marketplace which offers sellers, buyers, landlords and renters a secure and easy-to-use platform to find or list properties online.

Visit: www.lamudi.com.gh For All Classifieds On The Real Estate Industry In Ghana