On 14 January, 2021, Kelvin Nyame, Meqasa CEO spoke to Citi Business news about the confidence of stakeholders within the Real Estate industry in Ghana for 2021. The interview, conducted by Michael Ogbodu, revealed how Meqasa is already beginning to see some major signs of improvement even with the repercussions of the pandemic. It also covered the real estate sector’s trends that took place in 2020, as well as the hopes the company has for the future. Meqasa is the largest online marketplace for real estate in Ghana today. The website has over 40,000 property listings and keeps growing each day.

READ ALSO: Mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on Employment Contracts

Kelvin Nyame said his outfit is hopeful that the progress recorded so far in 2021 will be sustained throughout the year. “We are already seeing big demand especially in lands, houses, three and four-bedroom houses for sale. We’ve seen traffic bounce back again in January to 30% growth, so we are expecting more people. The vaccine is out, so we are expecting more people to be able to travel.”

He said he expects more content, more property to be built and more investment to come back into the country; and also expects the confidence of people to invest in apartments to lease for rental yields to equally bounce back.”

A lot of major businesses took a hit due to COVID-19 and the Real Estate sector also was not spared the effects of the global pandemic: Last year saw a major dip in business for actors in the real estate industry especially after a boom in 2019 following the government’s Year of Return Programme.

The event caused a lot of people from abroad, especially, the diaspora to come into the country. This increased the demand for homes both for rent and for sale.

The sector, last year, took a hit from the pandemic and recorded a significant decline.

COVID-19 and its associated restrictions prevented a lot of foreign customers from coming into the country.

The impact of the pandemic cannot be under emphasised, since even the peak season for business, which is the yuletide, took a hit in 2020.

Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, even Christmas festivities during the holiday period, did not yield the expected returns for the real estate sector.

READ ALSO: Covid-19 Speeds Up Interest in Home Ownership

The COVID-19 crisis significantly impacted the residential real estate market this year, and last year. Health concerns and stay-at-home orders led to fewer buyers looking for homes and fewer sellers willing to list their properties or allow strangers to enter their properties during a pandemic. “There was a general decrease as compared to 2019.”

2019 wasn’t an election year and there wasn’t COVID-19 either. There was, actually, more interest because of the year of return so there were a lot of variables that supported growth in 2019 as compared to last year.

Immediately we entered December, we saw about a 30% drop in demand.”

“Things appear to be picking up with the easing of some restrictions and, especially, due to news of vaccines for the virus.”, said Kelvin Nyame.

Also, with restrictions slowly easing off there is a hope for the Ghanaian real estate sector in 2021 despite COVID-19. As industries across the globe continue to adjust to the coronavirus pandemic and a new way of life that accompanies it, we have seen a level of togetherness previously unmatched. This global pandemic is unchartered territory for every one of us. As a result, companies are shifting to remote work and reduced schedules, with some being forced to consider innovations like collaborating with partners they once deemed competitors. As the industry continues to navigate this turbulent time, Meqasa continues to move forward in a world that is seemingly at a standstill.