—President Ali forecasts construction of 30,000 new houses in next five years
—says greater incentives to support families directly imminent

GUYANA’S housing sector is on the cusp of greater advancement with the government looking to construct 30,000 new homes within the next five years.

This massive undertaking, according to President Dr. Irfaan Ali will build on the country’s already thriving momentum, creating some 150,000 jobs and pumping over $450 billion into the economy.

“We are calculating at a minimum of 30,000 new homes being constructed in the next five years. That is delivering in a country of Guyana, 16 homes per day in the next five years,” the Head of State told a mammoth gathering at the opening of the 2025 International Building Expo at the National Stadium, Providence on Thursday evening.

The government he noted will adapt its policies to ensure incentives, making the process of landownership to building homes much easier for families.

“Now we’re going to incentivise the system to support families directly in building their homes, transferring resources to families to move from homeowner, from land ownership to home ownership, for improvement of their homes, the rehabilitation of their homes and the extension of their homes.”

To this end, he highlighted too that with just about 80,000 applications in the system to be processed, the government will be required to develop 20,000 acres of land, an investment of more than $420 billion.

“Now to give you an understanding of the scale and magnitude of that, that is almost 32 square miles, which is 20 per cent the size of Barbados landmass and almost half the size of Antigua landmass. That is a development that we must invest in to satisfy this additional 80,000 lots that are required,” he explained.

These demands he noted would require investments of over $800 billion and the government stands ready to make same, ensuring that every Guyanese has access to a sustainable future.

“This is careful planning. This is knowing what you’re about. This is about precision. This is about continuous work around the clock,” the Head of State affirmed.

The government he stressed is cognisant of what is ahead and has already laid the groundwork to meet the growing demands in the housing sector.

POLICIES AND INTERVENTIONS
Meanwhile, President Ali reminded the large gathering that the government does not just simply make fanciful declarations but have laid out strategic policies and programmes which aim to create conducive environments for growth and wealth creation.

To this end, he referenced the governments push within the last five years to reduce interest rates on mortgages which has seen low-income families loan rates being reduced from five per cent to three per cent in 2022.

According to President Ali, individual savings because of this reduction resulted in a 19 per cent reduction on the interest rate payable over the life cycle of a $4 million loan.

“What does that mean? That mean collectively, those who borrowed that $4 million in the low-income category would have saved almost $4 billion in interest rate as a result of this reduction,” he said before further explaining, “This is the calculation that allows you to understand how government policies, how our intervention would have helped the ordinary and every single family in this country.”

He noted that interest for about $9 million was reduced from seven per cent to 3.7 per cent.

Additionally, loans for about $30 million would have been reduced from 7.5 per cent to five per cent and would have targetted young professionals.

This the president explained represents a 29 per cent saving or $ 43.8 billion that would have been put back into the pockets of citizens.

Meanwhile, non-performing loans, which once stood at 11 per cent have been reduced to under 2 per cent.

“Those are the success stories that we’re talking about, mortgages and when you talk about confidence in the economy, confidence in the housing sector, confidence in the construction sector, President Ali said.

Mortgages for commercial and residential purposes he noted grew by 90 per cent from $136 billion to $258 billion.

Further, the construction sector grew from $9.2 billion to $22.2 billion and that is what the private sector must celebrate.

According to the Guyanese leader, the housing sector’s growth contributed approximately 19 per cent of growth in non-oil GDP from 2020 to 2024, while subsidies on cement, paint, and steel boosted local production, with cement imports increasing by 200 per cent.

“There is no other economy by scale, by per capita that can speak to this level of success,” the President said.