Government urged to support real estate sector

Real estate experts have implored the government to build a strong condominium housing sector that will create affordable housing and bridge the deficit in the country.

Condominiums are housing units on a storied building that can be separately owned by different people/families just like plots of land.

Under the Condominium Property Act of 2012, a real estate development company can build apartments and sell them and give the buyer a title deed for his property the same way you would sell a house on a plot of land.

Speaking to the Nile Post, Abbas Rasheed, one of the leading realtors said in a country where half the population of 44 million people is under the age of 15, investing in real-estate is one of the best decisions one can make today.

Rasheed who is also the general manager at Universal Multipurpose Enterprises said the government should work with the private sector and create regulations and incentives for firms in the real estate sector.

"We have to think seriously about what affordable housing is. Affordable housing is allowing somebody to pay for a house easily. How can we do that? We can do this by removing taxation, giving some land for free or giving it at an affordable price and maximizing the land by changing the way you construct, from horizontal to vertical," he said.

He said the problem of Uganda’s housing deficit is solvable, as long as the government works with the private sector.

"The government and the private sector work together on this. They both need to set up or encourage construction of large-scale dwelling units for the ordinary people. It is on those two foundations that a sustainable housing infrastructure can be realized in Kampala, " Raheed said.

Uganda’s Financial Sector Development Strategy (FSDS) estimates the country’s housing deficit to be above 2 million units, with an annual requirement surging to between 210,000 and 250,000 units.