Housing costs outpace incomes

For many Namibians, owning an average-priced home is becoming increasingly difficult as house prices remain far above what most people can afford to earn.A new report by Simonis Storm, titled Priced Out: Namibia's Housing Affordability Trap, estimated that a buyer would need a gross monthly income of about N$43 765 to afford the national average house price of N$1.46 million, based on a 10% deposit, a 20-year loan and an interest rate of 10.5%.The report said weak household incomes and the slow delivery of serviced land were the two biggest obstacles to affordable housing, with high construction costs, financing conditions and a shortage of housing options for lower-income households adding to the problem.The findings highlighted the gap between the cost of formal housing and the incomes of ordinary households.According to the research, 54.1% of adults reported personal monthly incomes of N$2 000 or less in the 2025 Namibia Financial Inclusion Survey.At the same time, the average house price increased by 7.4% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026.The report also found that a person earning N$11 000 a month could afford a property worth only about a quarter of the national average house price under its mortgage assumptions.Simonis Storm said the problem was not simply that houses were expensive, but that the housing market did not match the way most Namibians earned and built.It found that 64% of owner households built their homes, while only 6.9% used a bank loan to buy or build a dwelling.This suggested that many households relied on savings, their own labour and gradual construction rather than conventional mortgages.The availability of land was another major constraint.Government had set a target of servicing 10 000 plots a year, but the report said 1 772 plots were fully serviced during the cited 2024/25 reporting period, while another 1 064 were partially serviced.The fully serviced plots represented about 18% of the annual target.The report argued that increasing the supply of serviced land and providing more options, such as serviced plots, starter homes and financing for people who build in stages, would better reflect how many households actually obtained housing.The affordability concerns also echoed previous comments from the Bank of Namibia ((BoN)In June, BoN governor Ebson Uanguta told the Namibian Sun that the 20- to 30-year repayment periods offered by banks were largely driven by affordability.“The reason why the banks are giving us 20 to 30 years is just because of the affordability,” Uanguta said at the time.Simonis Storm economist Almandro Jansen similarly warned that shortening repayment periods without increasing household incomes or lowering interest rates could make home loans even less affordable.Using a N$2 million mortgage at an interest rate of 11.5%, Jansen said a 20-year repayment period would result in monthly instalments of about N$21,500, compared with roughly N$35,400 over seven years.The new Simonis Storm report suggested that the affordability problem went beyond the length of a mortgage.It said sustained income growth was necessary, while finance and subsidies could only bridge part of the gap.The research recommended that government publish regular information showing how many plots had been planned, funded and fully serviced in each town, allowing the public to track progress against the 10 000-plot annual target.

Housing costs outpace incomes

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Republikein 2026-09-03

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Housing costs outpace incomes

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Republikein 2026-09-03

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