IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and Chinese multinational construction and engineering company, CITIC Construction have launched a $300m investment platform, CITICC (Africa) Holding, to develop affordable housing in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Oumar Seydi, IFC Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said: “As Sub-Saharan Africa become more urbanized, the private sector can help governments meet the critical need for housing.”

“The platform will help transform Africa’s housing markets by providing high quality, affordable homes, creating jobs, and demonstrating the viability of the sector to local developers. IFC will work with financial institutions to support mortgages and housing finance that will allow people to purchase the units,” he said.

The platform will partner with local housing developers and provide long-term capital to develop 30,000 homes over next five years.

IFC estimates that each housing unit will create five fulltime jobs – resulting in nearly 150,000 new jobs on the continent.

Rapid urbanization is pushing up demand for housing in Sub-Saharan Africa.

African cities become home to over 40,000 people every day, many of whom find themselves without a roof over their heads.

Kenya’s housing shortage is estimated at 2 million units, while Nigeria is in want of 17 million units.

The soaring demand is being met by scant new supply.

Africa’s housing market has few local developers with the technical and financial strength to construct large-scale projects.

The IFC-CITIC Construction platform will work with local housing companies to develop affordable housing projects across Sub-Saharan Africa, each ranging in size from 2,000 to 8,000 units.

The platform will start by developing homes in Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria, expanding to other countries as operations ramp up.

The new housing units will be constructed in accordance to IFC’s green building standards, delivering homes that are environmentally friendly and sustainable.

The World Bank Group estimates that by 2030, three billion people, or 40% of the world’s population will need new housing units.

To date, IFC has invested more than $3bn in housing finance in over 46 countries world-wide.

IFC focuses on regions where large portions of the population live in sub-standard housing and have limited access to credit to build, expand, or renovate their homes.

CITIC Construction has a proven track record in constructing and delivering large scale housing projects.

Hong Bo, Assistant President of CITIC Group and Chairwoman of CITIC Construction, said: “In Angola, through planning, financing, construction and post-construction operation, CITIC Construction has successfully completed the 200,000 units housing program, new city of Kilamba Kiaxi, with relative infrastructure and utilities in four years."

"CITIC Construction has also founded the CITIC BN Vocational School in Angola which helps youth acquire the skills they need to become professionals. CITIC Construction will take advantage of our engineering experience and delivery capability to develop more affordable houses for Africa through the platform with IFC,” she said.