Calculating Housing Affordability

In order for a project to be viable, developers must set a price for the housing unit that is both affordable for the households targeted, and feasible for the developer to build at that cost while ensuring a profit margin. The purpose of this calculator is to assist affordable housing developers in Africa to determine the price of a house in a particular development, that a household at a certain income level could afford, given certain mortgage terms.

• The first tab What is housing affordability? provides an introduction.
• At the second tab Calculating demand-side affordability you can input three data points: the monthly income of the target household, the distance of the house from the city centre, and the country. The calculator then uses various assumptions to determine the price of the house in this housing project that this household can afford with a mortgage.
• The third tab Supply-side affordability allows you to benchmark the price of the house.

For more detail on the housing affordability framework that underpins the calculator, click here.