Despite the significant growth potential in Africa’s housing sector, a major obstacle persists in the chronic absence of comprehensive data on the extent and nature of financial infrastructure investment. As a component of CAHF’s “Investor Programme,” this report endeavors to measure the scope of investment endeavors in housing and housing finance across Africa and create a mechanism for continual monitoring. Through the identification and advocacy of augmented investment in affordable housing, the program aims to foster increased investment and facilitate connections between investors and potential prospects.

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The Need for Rigorous Data Collection and Analysis

The report underscores the pivotal importance of enhanced and sophisticated data collection, analysis, and interpretation in enabling evidence-based decision-making within the housing sector. In the existing landscape, the scarcity of information regarding investment activities and trends impedes targeted interventions, leading to inadequate housing finance offerings, elevated rates of non-performing loans (NPLs), and lackluster adoption of new residential projects.

Specific Data Gaps to Address

The report identifies three key areas where urgent action is needed to address data gaps:

• Market overview data: This includes information on who is investing in the housing delivery and financing value chains, the geographic distribution of investment, the type of capital used, and investment vehicles. It also relates this data to the investment environment and its impact on investor interest.
• Market performance data: This data needs to be segmented by target market, housing type, investment intervention, and geography. Understanding top-performing investment instruments provides a roadmap for future investors navigating the African investment environment.
• Competitive market horizon: Historical data on the mortgage, home equity, personal loan, consumer loan, microfinance, and housing microfinance sectors is essential for forecasting the size, financial capacity, geographic reach, and market share of participants in the housing and housing finance sectors. This data is often lacking in many African countries, presenting a major barrier to investment modeling.

CAHF’s Investor Programme and Its Goals

The “Investor Programme” by CAHF seeks to confront the aforementioned data deficiencies by quantifying the scope of investment endeavors in housing and housing finance throughout Africa and establishing a system to continuously monitor these activities. This initiative has amassed data and identified gaps and prospects within the investment arena, aiming to spur increased investment in affordable housing while facilitating connections between investors and potential ventures.

Conclusion:

Closing the data deficit is essential for stimulating investment in affordable housing across Africa. Through its “Investor Programme,” the CAHF endeavors to tackle distinct data gaps concerning market insights, performance metrics, and competitive landscapes, thus furnishing crucial intelligence to advocate for investment in underprivileged markets. This data-centric strategy fosters an improved policy milieu, heightened private sector engagement, and amplified interventions in the affordable housing realm, ultimately fostering economic advancement and social progress across the continent.