Ghana’s housing crisis is taking a new turn, with the growing practice of pricing residential properties in US dollars raising fresh questions about who the country’s formal housing market is really serving.
While developers cite rising construction costs, imported materials and exchange-rate volatility as reasons for dollar pricing, critics argue that the practice could make homeownership even more difficult for the majority of Ghanaians who earn their incomes in cedis.
A commentary by Ibrahim Al-Muazam, a PhD Candidate in Interdisciplinary Humanities at Brock University, Canada, argues that Ghana’s housing challenge goes beyond the number of houses being built.
The real test, it says, is whether ordinary households can afford them.
Ghana’s housing deficit is estimated at about two million units, while the World Bank has warned that formal housing remains unaffordable for households in the bottom 80 percent of the income distribution.
This raises a fundamental question: What is the point of adding more houses to the housing stock if most Ghanaians cannot afford them?
Why are homes priced in dollars?
Property developers have a case to make.
Ghana’s construction industry relies heavily on imported materials and equipment. When the cedi loses value against the US dollar, the cost of importing steel, electrical components, specialised equipment and other inputs can rise sharply.
Developers who agree to sell homes at fixed cedi prices long before construction is completed could therefore face substantial losses.
Dollar pricing, in such circumstances, provides a way of protecting the value of their investment.
But Al-Muazam’s commentary questions whether imported inputs justify pricing an entire property in dollars.
Much of the value of a Ghanaian property is generated locally; from the land and labour to transportation, construction and professional services.
The presence of some dollar-linked costs, he argues, does not necessarily mean the entire selling price should be dollar-denominated.
The buyer carries the risk
For a Ghanaian earning cedis, the consequences can be costly.
Take a property selling for US$300,000.
If the cedi depreciates before the buyer completes payment, the property remains US$300,000, but the buyer needs considerably more cedis to raise the same dollar amount.
The developer may have protected the dollar value of the property, but the buyer’s income remains exposed to the cedi.
The commentary therefore argues that dollar pricing may not eliminate currency risk but may simply shift the risk from the developer to the buyer.
Is Ghana building for those who earn dollars?
The issue becomes even more pronounced when the market is viewed through the lens of income.
A Ghanaian living in Canada, the United Kingdom or the United States may earn foreign currency and find a dollar-priced property relatively easier to purchase.
But a teacher, nurse, civil servant, young professional or informal-sector worker earning cedis in Kumasi, Accra, Tamale or Takoradi faces a different reality.
The PhD candidate does not blame diaspora buyers for the situation. Their investments can bring foreign exchange into Ghana, finance construction and create jobs.
But he questions what happens when people earning foreign currencies increasingly become a major force shaping the formal housing market while the majority of residents continue to earn cedis.
More houses, but still a housing crisis
Ghana can therefore continue to see new housing developments without necessarily solving its housing crisis.
Developers have an economic incentive to target buyers who can afford high-end properties, including wealthy Ghanaians, diaspora buyers and international investors.
That means thousands of new houses could be added to the market while millions of Ghanaians remain unable to access adequate formal housing.
The commentary argues that measuring Ghana’s housing progress simply by the number of construction projects risks missing the bigger picture.
The key question is what type of housing is being built and who can afford it?
What does the law say?
There is also a regulatory question.
The commentary points to Bank of Ghana rules under the Foreign Exchange Act, 2006 (Act 723) restricting unauthorised pricing, advertising, invoicing, receipting and payment for domestic goods and services in foreign currency.
A 2025 Bank of Ghana notice includes the sale and leasing of real estate within its foreign-exchange rules.
The commentary does not suggest that every property advertised in dollars is automatically illegal.
Instead, it asks why dollar-denominated property advertising remains so common if restrictions on foreign-currency pricing of domestic real estate exist.
It calls for clearer guidance and consistent enforcement so consumers and developers understand exactly where the law stands.
The bigger question
The debate, the commentary argues, should not become a simple battle between property developers and homebuyers.
Developers face genuine pressures; inflation, exchange-rate fluctuations, imported materials, high financing costs and uncertainty.
But protecting developers from those risks should not mean transferring the burden entirely to households whose incomes remain in cedis.
With Ghana’s housing deficit estimated at around two million units, and formal housing unaffordable to much of the population, the growing market for properties costing US$250,000, US$500,000 or more demands closer public scrutiny.
Ultimately, the question is not whether Ghana should have luxury homes.
It is whether Ghana’s housing market is increasingly being shaped by the purchasing power of people earning dollars while the majority of Ghanaians who live and work here continue to earn cedis.
By Ibrahim Abubakar
