Affordable Housing in Rwanda: Demand-side analysis

This review of Rwanda’s affordable housing sector and its financing was commissioned by Access to Finance Rwanda and undertaken by CAHF in partnership with 71point4 and local consultant Fatou Dieye.  Eight reports are available.  This is the report for the demand side analysis, undertaken by 71point4

According to Rwanda’s FinScope 2020, 23% of households live in urban areas. Most of these households own their dwellings and there are typically 4 to 5 members per household. About 71% of urban households have some form of deprivation in terms of housing conditions, considering the four indicators of housing dimension; electricity, floor material, overcrowding and source of cooking material as per the EICV 5 Rwanda Multidimensional Poverty Report.

Vision 2050 predicts that there will be 15.5 million Rwandans living in urban areas by 2050 with an urban population growth rate of 7.6% from 2020-2035, and then 3.5% from 2035-2050. Assuming there is no backlog, the additional dwelling units required to meet the increase in demand is significant. For example in 2025 between 45,000 and 84,000 dwelling units will be required to meet demand. A cumulative view also indicates that in the five years between now and 2050, between 2.3 and 3.2 million dwelling units are required to keep up with demand as shown below:

As Rwanda develops in line with its vision, there is an opportunity for AfR to support the development of a housing finance sector in Rwanda that meets the needs of all residents and all housing supply approaches, with a variety of products and services designed explicitly to engage with the breadth and nuance of their capacity.

This review of Rwanda’s affordable housing sector and its financing explored the overall institutional, policy and legislative environment for affordable housing, scoped the demand side, interrogated the capacity and activities of the supply side, and considered where finance could make a difference. This report sets out the detailed demand-side analysis.