The National Real Estate Company (SNI), Gabon’s first public landlord, has just announced the opening of its expertise to the general public through the creation of an assistance counter to help individuals build their homes from funds. own.
According to the general direction of the SNI, the counter offers to “participate, in particular, from the conception to the realization” of the habitats of the individuals and by evaluating the overall cost of the construction. This initiative is part of the goal set by the Gabonese government to guarantee decent housing, to the greatest number of nationals and to provide them with a safe and secure living environment.
A deficit of over 200,000 homes in Libreville
If half of the Gabonese population lives in the capital, Libreville, the housing deficit is estimated at more than 200,000, according to a survey by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning. The state has not put enough resources to build new social housing, housing prices have risen to the detriment of the majority of the labor force, in particular, and real estate agencies that outbid.
In Libreville, monthly rents for dwellings still available vary between 85,000 FCFA for a studio (commonly known as F 1) and 200,000 FCFA for a two-bedroom house. Rental prices for larger apartments or villas range from 350,000 to 2 million CFA per month, depending on their location.
Below these ranges, dwellings are unhealthy. For the town hall of Libreville, it is necessary to “build about 10,000 homes per year in the capital”. An objective that the Gabonese State has never been able to achieve.
Another avenue explored by individuals is access to credit, but they often come up against the rigidity of the local banking system. But the largest number of Gabonese (more than 70% of whom are tenants) has so far been excluded from homeownership because of the dysfunctional local housing finance mechanisms.
As it is easier to get a car loan from the banks, hundreds of individuals go through this route to redirect this credit towards the construction of their home.
