Jumia House Ghana (GH) interviewed realtor and marketer of Blue Rose Company Limited, Mr. Emmanuel Ayisi (EA). According to Mr. Ayisi, the only way the real estate sector can get better is when the Government of Ghana intervenes by putting up more structures to solve the housing deficit in the country. Read on and find the views of Mr. Ayisi, on the real estate market in Ghana.

GH: Tell us a bit about yourself?

EA: Emmanuel Ayisi is a realtor and with the marketing department of Blue Rose Company.

Blue Rose is a real estate developing company and our market is targeted toward the middle-income and high-income earning populace. Our properties can be located at Kasoa but we have intentions of going to other places and we have been in business for the past 20 years.

GH: How do you find the real estate market here in Ghana?

EA: For now, I can say the market is OK. Those of us in the real estate business are doing our best but it’s a two-way approach – if the developers continue to put up good structures, the other side of it are the buyers – how do they assess money to buy the developed properties? On the real estate side, we are doing our best but I think the government and the banking sector should come up with an innovative ways to get people to acquire mortgages. Through mortgaging, people can acquire land and buildings but I think the awareness is not there.

GH: How does Blue Rose market it’s developments?

EA: The best way to market any product is by word of mouth – those who have bought our houses can tell others. We also market through social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter, Jumia House Ghana and our website. Another way of marketing is going to companies to do presentations; we take part in fairs. Indeed, social media has been helpful because those outside the country get to know what Blue Rose has to offer but for a Ghanaian to buy a house, it is quite difficult so our target has been pushed to foreigners and Ghanaians living abroad.

We also travel sometimes to Europe and the United States and do radio adverts and when they hear it they believe us.

GH: Opportunities in the Real Estate Sector

EA: People on the higher payment scheme are few, the middle and low-income sectors are more. So the approach is to put up structures that are good and are affordable to the middle and lower income.

Affordability means people who need it should be able to afford it. There is a standard for measuring affordable housing which is calculated by the square meter or the space you have on a plot and how you use the space to build a house.

Technically, Blue Rose was doing affordable housing but when the dollar fluctuated then the affordable housing went through the roof but gradually, everything is coming back to normal.  Before the dollar rate went up, we had buildings as low as 50,000 GHS and that was two-bedroom house with a hall, kitchen, bathroom, porch and space in front of the house.

GH: Words for other people in the real estate sector.

EA: Every real estate developer is different but we should try to let people know that not all real estates are expensive. There are affordable ones that the middle-income and lower-income brackets can afford.