Surveying & Built Environment Vol. 22 Issue 1 (December 2012)

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Good property Valuation in Emerging Real Estate Markets? Evidence from Ghana Franklin Obeng-Odoom* ABSTRACT Traditional valuation methods were designed with developed real estate markets in mind. Within that paradigm, the Cost Approach to property valuation is the method of last resort for surveyors, the exception rather than the rule. However, in countries such as Ghana where cultural practices, special relationships and administrative bottlenecks constitute structural impediments to the use of more ‘progressive’ valuation methods, surveyors rely on the Cost Approach (with some modifications) as the method of choice. KEY WoRdS Valuation, Cost Method, Ghana, sub-Saharan Africa, Property Market * The Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of the Built Environment, Asia-Pacific Centre for Complex Real Property Rights, University of Technology, Sydney. Email: Franklin.Obeng-Odoom@ uts.edu.au SBE 37
SBE 38 Good Property Valuation in Emerging Real Estate Markets? Evidence from Ghana INTRoduCTIoN The size of the housing sector in Ghana, one of Africa’s most urbanised countries, is growing. In 1970, the housing sector was made up of only 941,639 houses. Now, with increased population and demand, there are over 2,000,000 houses in Ghana (Ghana Statistical Service, 1970; 2005). Similarly, the quality of the houses has improved over time. In 1874, Accra, the capital city, was perceived as a city made up of thatched houses and crooked streets (Grant and Yankson, 2003, p.66), today that city has gated communities with villas (Grant, 2009). The changing nature of the housing sector warrants a reflection on how Ghanaian professionals assess property values. The literature on real estate markets in sub-Saharan Africa, where Ghana is located, has largely ignored property valuation (see, for example, Ebohon et al., 2002). A small number of studies have examined valuation practices (e.g., Amidu and Aluko, 2007; Aluko, 2007; Babawale and Ajayi, 2011; Otegbulu and Babawale, 2011). However, most of them focus on factors that influence the opinion of valuers. Also, almost all of them are about the situation in Nigeria. To date, research on valuation methods in other countries in sub-Saharan Africa remains thin. So, analysing valuation in Ghana is important for expanding the knowledge base of valuation methods in sub- Saharan Africa. Valuation in Ghana is influenced by the United Kingdom, which colonised the country from July 1874 to March 1957 (Ministry of Education, 1991, p.99). During that period there were some surveyors, who were deemed ‘licensed’ by virtue of consistently working according to the standards laid down in legislation such as the Gold Coast Technical Instructions of 1921 (Ofori-Boadi, 2006). According to Emmanuel Mohenu, Director of Surveying and Mapping Division of the Lands Commission of Ghana (now called the New Lands Commission), surveying in Ghana started about 100 years ago when Brigadier-General Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg, K.C.M.G., D.S.O., R.E. (1869-1930) 1 was the Governor of the Gold Coast (as Ghana was then called) (Zaney, 2009). Although there were surveyors with various specialisations, the dominant group was the land surveyors (LISAG, 2011). On 28th February 1969, over a decade after independence (which was obtained on 6th of March, 1957), the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, the professional body that tries to regulate professional valuation in Ghana, was established (Ghana Institution of Surveyors, 2011). There are already some studies of valuation in Ghana that seek to describe the role of valuers (see, for example, Mends, 2006 and Ayittey et al., 2006) and how they are trained (Obeng- Odoom and Ameyaw, 2010; Obeng- Odoom and Ameyaw, 2011), so this paper extends that literature. It examines valuation methods, identifies their peculiarities in the context where they are used and highlights how valuers adapt the methods to the prevailing 1 Editor’s note: Guggisberg was Governor from 1919 to 1928. More importantly, He was himself an army surveyor and had been Director of Surveys of the Gold Coast 1905 to 1908. From 1910 to 1914, he was in the same post in Nigeria. In 1911 he wrote The Handbook of the Southern Nigeria Survey.
Page 1 and 2: ISSN 1816-9554 w w w . h k i s . o
Page 3 and 4: Information All rights reserved. No
Page 5 and 6: SBE 4 Contents Editorial Articles A
Page 7 and 8: SBE 6 documents (Hong Kong Special
Page 9 and 10: SBE 8 A Note on British Blockhouses
Page 11 and 12: SBE 10 A Note on British Blockhouse
Page 13 and 14: A Note on British Blockhouses in Ho
Page 21 and 22: SBE 20 Reconstructing The Early His
Page 37: SBE 36 Reconstructing The Early His
Page 41 and 42: SBE 40 Good Property Valuation in E
Page 63 and 64: SBE 62 Modelling Gaseous Emissions
Page 75 and 76: SBE 74 direct Geo-referencing and o
Page 77 and 78: SBE 76 Direct Geo-referencing and O
Page 89 and 90:
SBE 88 Kadoorie Hill and footnote 4
Page 91 and 92:
SBE 90 Kadoorie Hill and Footnote 4
Page 93 and 94:
SBE 92 Definitions of Land Use Term
Page 95:
SBE 94 Definitions of Land Use Term
show all

Surveying & Built Environment Vol. 22 Issue 1 (December 2012)

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?