A Framework for Financing Housing Development and Ownership in Africa

Purpose: There is a need for the modification of mortgage finance to embrace new innovative finance options that will facilitate access to housing by low- and middle-income earners in Africa. Thus, this paper seeks to evaluate the suitability of informal finance options for incremental housing development in Africa.Design / methods followed/ approach: A desktop survey of the literature was carried out to consider mortgage financing in contrast to other housing financing options. The approach was used to critically appraise and consolidate existing studies on innovative financing (informal finance option) in Africa. The Mendeley app was used to collate and organize the literature chronologically spanning 24 years of 1994-2018. Thematic content analysis was used to appraise positions, gaps, and lapses in the implementation of different informal housing financing solutions.Findings: In most African countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Malawi, mortgage finance research continues to grow as a major part of affordable housing finance. However, there are considerable interests in innovative affordable housing finance tools and incremental housing for the low-income groups.Research limitations / implications: This study is limited by the low volume of quantitative literature and data gaps about incremental housing in the African context. However, this motivates the need for a more elaborate exploration of the research and knowledge available.Practical implications: This study adds to the growing discussion of exploring available research on innovative housing finance in Africa.Originality / Value of work: To our knowledge, this study provides insight into the opportunities for a diverse pool of formal and informal financing options to build an acceptable house finance framework for the African housing market.