Property Valuation in Ghana: Contraints and Contradictions

SUMMARY Property valuation is carried out in Ghana for various purposes such as for insurance, payment of compensation for state acquired lands, taxation, rent/lease, sale and mortgages among others. It has been recognized over the years that property valuations in Ghana for the various purposes is fraught with a lot of constraining factors, conditions and contradictions which often distort estimated values. Although in all these the methods of valuation are accordingly applied, it has been found that the open market value on which property value is assessed is affected by some constraints from the characteristics of the landed property and the property market. These constraints are lack of adequate data, dearth of knowledge of the property market, and a property market which is not well developed and mostly informal. It also includes high inflation and interest rates which also affect values, and difficulty in determining the interest/right in the property being valued due to conditions of land tenure. In the light of this, the paper discusses these constraining factors, conditions and contradictions which play an important role in the use of the open market value in valuation for the various purposes and how it affects property values in Ghana. The study reveals that due to these constraints and contradictions in property valuations, values are distorted and not a true reflection of what persists on the open (property) market. This also has some effect on policy decisions, investments, development of a viable property market and sustainable economic development.