Housing Deficit Rises...Money Laundering Partly To Blame

Ghana's strict adherence to anti-money laundering laws has partly contributed to the rise in the country's housing deficit.

This is the indication from the Ghana Real Estate Developers' Association (GREDA).

The Association has therefore advocated pragmatic mechanisms to allow prospective home owners do so.

A Council Member of GREDA, Samuel Tenkorang who made the revelation recounted to Citi Business News how the perpetrators shy away from disclosing their sources of funds when necessary.

The enforcement of the anti-money laundering laws follows Ghana's association with the international body and signatory to some agreements as a result.

Mr. Tenkorang was speaking at a real estate forum as part of the Kenya Trade Expo 2017, being held in Ghana.

“If the person can go and pay into your account as a real estate player, then it is no more your responsibility but they will not go because they cannot disclose the source. Any money that you cannot disclose the source, you can equally not easily move it around otherwise you push it through the legal financial system and then you've now made I clean.”

The number of persons not living in houses in Ghana, is estimated at 2 million presently.

Some industry analysts fear the figure could escalate further if unchecked.

The situation has also accounted for the rise in slum conditions in cities of developing economies like Ghana.

There has not been any empirical study to determine the extent of the role of money launderers in the widening of the housing deficit.

But the trend of an abrupt drop in demands for some high end properties have lent to the assertions by GREDA.

“It is international law that money launderers must be brought to book. There has not been any studies to show that earlier there were clients who were money launderers but now that we are clamping them down, they have withdrawn. So one can only infer that most likely some of the purchases were by money launderers,” Mr. Tenkorang added.