ACCORDING to Minister of Housing and Water, Irfaan Ali, Guyana’s housing sector has demonstrated significant and steady growth over the last five years, a trend which can be attributed to the continued aggressive divestment of land to low and moderate income housing development.
In addition, he pointed out that the realignment of the policies of the financial sector has also contributed greatly to the growth of the sector, as over the years, financial institutions have offered mortgages at reduced interest rates to better satisfy the needs of the targeted income groups.
“Several local banking institutions are involved in the provision of mortgage facilities to allow for the financing of individual home construction,” he said.
He also noted that interest rates for mortgages have decreased for home construction over the years, a direct result tied to the scale and impact that government–led interventions in the housing sector have had on the policies of the lending institutions.
“The Ministry of Housing and the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA) have continued to pursue their policy of land divestment by allocating  developed land to mainly low-income earners in accordance  with  its allocation criteria,” he said.
This strategy, he explained, entailed the identification of land, mostly acquired from GuySuCo, for development into housing schemes throughout the ten regions of Guyana.
Continuing, Ali revealed that the significant contribution of the construction sector has also enabled beneficiaries of the housing programme to readily access building materials for home construction, which contributed to a rapid increase in the construction of dwelling units throughout the country.
Alluding to the strategy which contributed to the sector’s expansion, the Housing Minister explained that, from a countrywide perspective, the policy has been  to focus on new  settlement  development  in areas or regions which have been experiencing  growth  and to support such growth tendencies  by raising  the population  threshold  of those areas as a mechanism to attract more services and facilities and ultimately, lead to the development  of  more  sustainable communities .
“There has been recognition  of the need to strategically  embrace  hinterland settlement development in a more  focused and sustained manner,  as part  of the overall  strategic  objective  of promoting  the  more  balanced  development of regions  in Guyana,” Ali stated.
He  also  emphasised that the synchronisation of  the CH&PA’s  settlement  development  strategy with national  development  objectives , as embodied in Guyana’s National Development Strategy , has also led to a strategic focus  on supporting  and facilitating new settlement  development initiatives  in areas designated as ‘secondary towns’.
In addition, the minister lauded the efforts of private developers who have been involved in the construction of homes within the sector on lands that the CH&PA have made available.
“During the last five years, four new developers came into the housing market and collaborated with the ministry in the delivery of the housing programme, especially in the low-income groups in the country,” he said.