The country’s structural challenges continue to hinder access to mortgage financing. A group of experts gathered in Luanda to discuss the sector, but the conclusion remains that the same long-standing problems persist. Responsibility appears to lie more with the State than with the banking sector.
The national real estate market faces a housing deficit of approximately 3.2 million homes, and it is urgent for both banks and the Government to make more funding available to tackle this crisis, several experts argued last week during the 3rd National Conference on the Real Estate Sector. Mechanisms such as BNA Notice 9 have proven insufficient, having facilitated only 2,115 mortgage loans over the past four years.
Held as part of the International Real Estate Business Fair (FINI 2026), the event in Luanda highlighted the need for greater investment in the sector, improvements in administrative processes, and a stronger role for the State in addressing the housing crisis.
The provision of serviced and legally registered land, together with the regularization of property titles so that homes can be used as collateral in bank lending agreements, are essential measures to prevent the housing deficit from growing even more rapidly in a country where the population is expanding at an average annual rate of 3.5%.
Banks currently enjoy higher returns and lower risks by investing customer deposits in instruments such as sovereign debt. As a result, they remain reluctant to grant mortgage loans, which require longer maturities and involve greater risks, particularly in an economy that has experienced repeated disruptions due to the volatility of oil prices.
Moreover, persistently high inflation has pushed interest rates on housing loans to levels that are virtually unaffordable. In response, and ahead of the 2022 elections, the Government introduced Notice 9 of the National Bank of Angola, which for the first time established special subsidized lending conditions, imposing a ceiling of 7% on mortgage interest rates charged by banks and setting a maximum loan amount of Kz 150 million per contract.
Source: Expansão
