The Best Real Estate Investment Types in Ghana

If you’re serious about investing in real estate in Ghana, you won’t be short of options. In many parts of Ghana, you’ll find ripe real estate investment opportunities ready to be grabbed by investors who have done their homework and can embrace some risk.

But really, doesn’t every investment have a fair share of risk?

Real estate in Ghana

The Ghanaian real estate space has been one of the most attractive options in the sub-region. The relative political stability has held that door ajar, and the progress on the economic front has attracted many investors.

And once you step into Ghana’s real estate space, you’ll find many real estate investment classes that deserve your attention and finances. Or certainly your deep consideration. 

If you can find a real estate advisory company in Ghana to hold your hand, you can take advantage of the many real estate investment classes. In this article, we’ll look at some common real estate investment types in Ghana you can consider.

Investment Land

As most of the action concentrates in Accra, many people prefer to look beyond Accra for their real estate investment activities. And one of the most common real estate investment options is buying large tracts of undeveloped land for later.

Of course, given how built-up Accra has become, this option only works on the peripheries of Accra. But given the pace of development, it’s not hard to see these areas becoming massive built-up areas soon. 

Also, the increasing infrastructural developments like roads will only speed up urbanization. Add to that the ease of moving around by car, and the prospect of owning land on the outskirts of Accra no longer sounds like an insane investment.

That said, there are some legal regulations around this approach that you have to keep an eye on. For example, by law, you should start developing your bare land within two years of acquiring it. Buying large tracts of land and holding on to them till they appreciate before you sell them may not appeal to everyone. 

Some investors don’t like speculation. And the cost of financing only gets higher with time. If that’s you, the next point may interest you.

Residential development

Ghana could use hundreds of thousands of housing units to meet the over 1.8 million housing deficit. 

And with population growth outpacing housing delivery, putting up homes for rent or sale becomes a hot real estate investment with immense potential.

Whether you prefer single-family units or medium to high-rise residential apartment buildings, residential developments are an increasingly popular real estate investment sub-class in Ghana. You’ll see this more so in the cities like Accra and Kumasi.

If you go with the apartment type of development, you need a relatively small land size since you’re going higher. And with the dwindling land stock in our cities, that’s becoming the most feasible option. 

Going into residential real estate development affords you some flexibility. For example, you can offer some units for rent while you offer some for direct sales. 

You can also target different segments of the property market – affordable housing, middle-class, or luxury real estate are all available options.

Commercial real estate development

As Ghana develops and sectors of the economy expand, people start businesses, companies grow, and most of these businesses require workspaces – shops or offices. Further, many multinational companies find Ghana attractive to do business and open branches here.

These options only mean the demand for commercial spaces also comes alive.

Whether you’ll focus on providing space for retailing or office spaces for businesses in the service industry, commercial real estate development is the answer. While location is huge in real estate, commercial real estate investments echo the need for the perfect location even harder. 

Many businesses thrive on traffic, and if you aim to win big with commercial real estate, that’s something to consider. Petrol filling stations and spaces for eateries also fall under commercial real estate. And again, depending on the city and the part of town, some types of commercial developments will work better than others.

Recreational real estate 

While they still fall under commercial real estate development, recreational developments focus more on leisure and recreational uses, more so than office and retail spaces. Think hotels, guest houses, resorts, and event houses as examples of this type of real estate investment.

With a general improvement in economic activities comes the demand for these facilities. And if you can find the perfect tourist town or city, these recreational real estate investment options could call for attention.

Mixed-use developments

Mixed-use developments offer flexibilities in the type of real estate developments you can invest in. In multi-storey structures, it’s easy to have residential uses co-existing with commercial. For these mixed-used developments to work, the uses should be complementary.

As we commonly see, residential and commercial are the most symbiotic. But even with that, only aspects of commercial uses can co-exist with residential developments. 

Go too far, and users will push back or stay away. Worse yet, the law will stop you. For example, you can’t site a gas-filling station (commercial) next door to your block of residential apartments. But a suite of shops next to your residential development gels nicely. 

You can’t ignore these little nuances in real estate investment.

Industrial real estate development

In areas where industrialization still goes on, this investment is profitable. For example, in the industrial belt of Tema, you’ll find many real estate investors investing in warehouses to serve the market’s needs.

Manufacturing companies and large-scale distributors use these warehouses the most. If you can swallow the risk, that’s an impressive asset class in the Ghanaian real estate marketplace.

The options for real estate in Ghana are immense

If you’re bent on investing in Ghanaian real estate, you have no shortage of options. You can pick a spot from bare land to shiny high-rise apartment buildings.

With a little due diligence and an appetite for risk, you can take advantage of the returns the many real estate investment types in Ghana promise.