Housing
The Basics of Acquiring
a Residential Plot in an Urban Area G
iven the 300 000-housing backlog in the country, which requires about N$76 billion, urban dwellers are getting frustrated on whether they will ever own a residential plot or house in town. The Construction and Mining magazine has spoken with various experts to reveal the channels on how ordinary Namibians can acquire land (plot or house), in urban areas. The industry players indicated that acquiring decent residential land (plot and house) in various towns of Namibia takes different channels/methods and depends on the town you are living in. Servicing of land plays a role in its acquisition; first land serviced by a municipality; secondly is a plot serviced by a developer, and finally a plot serviced through a partnership between the municipality and developer. Land which is serviced by the municipality through budgetary allocation can be acquired by the locals more affordably, the experts indicated that it is because in most cases the pricing is not done on cost recovery and can be politically influenced. This type of land is acquired through the municipality’s advertisements and residents or anybody who submits their bids or can be sold to those who applied via the municipality. With this method of acquisition, people build with their time and in most cases no mortgage is involved as people build off their pockets. However, with fiscal consolidation (reduced public
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expenditure) back in the 2015-16, few funds were availed to the municipalities to service land and provide bulk services on virgin land. When a developer buys virgin land from the local authority, service it and sells the plots to the public, resident can acquire it by purchasing property/land from the developer who builds top structures that individuals can buy. With this approach, the developer prices the residential plot or top structure on cost recovery and their profit margin. However, this approach was changed because more foreigners found a way to buy land in Namibia and prices went skyrocketing. The third option to get a residential plot, which is kind of a hybrid is through a public-private partnership (PPP) serviced land. In this model, the municipality partners up with a private developer and avail land to be serviced with option to
Construction & Mining Magazine - December 2020 - January 2021 Edition
build top structures. The land does not get owned by the developer to avoid speculation -no title deeds given to the developer, they are just administrators. Individuals who want a plot or house buy it from the municipality through the administration of the developer. Individuals who want a plot or house thus apply to the municipality and their names get to be submitted to the ministry (urban and rural) for approval to avoid an individual owning multiple properties for speculations and pushing up residential plots and house prices. The city of Windhoek spokesperson Lydia Amutenya added that it also depends on the zoning of the property. She explained that for the city’s, single residential erven are sold on tender (closed bid method), and private treaty to those on the city waiting list. “We only sell single residential erven on private treaty to clients in lower
