Proparco, an international development finance institution jointly held by Agence Francaise de Development, has signed a 10 year loan of $7 million to support the growth of Ghana Home Loans (GHL), a mortgage finance institution.

Dominic Adu, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Home Loans signed on behalf of his outfit while Julien Lefilleur, Proparco's representative for West Africa initialed for his organization. It was witnessed by Bruno Leclerc, resident manager of Agence Francaise de Development.

It is estimated that Ghana would need 5.7 million rooms by 2020 to meet its housing needs in the urban centres. Yet, the mortgage market in Ghana is still at its infancy, with mortgage loans representing less than 1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while the potential is estimated to be around 6 percent of GDP.

GHL was set up in 2006 to address the acute housing shortage by providing long term financing to prospective home buyers. With more than 50 percent of market share, GHL is the leading actor in a small but fast growing domestic mortgage market.

The company focuses solely on the provision of residential mortgage products denominated in either local or foreign currency and with repayment periods of up to 20 years.

From the business desk