Access to land is a necessary part of housing development. However, certain tenure systems don’t support the emergence of formal land markets, and ineffective land administration can also hamper efforts to make land available. Only an estimated 10% of land in Sub-Saharan Africa is formally registered, and land that is not registered is difficult to secure for housing development. Governments, then, need to play a key role in the recording and enforcing of ownership claims.
In an attempt to improve the reach of land registries, Rwanda implemented comprehensive land-tenure reform in 2005. From 2005 to 2012, the country implemented a program at the national scale to use photomapping technology to issue land titles at less than US$10 per parcel. Because of the initial success of this program, other countries including Madagascar, Namibia, and Tanzania, are implementing similar initiatives.
Source:
World Bank Group. (2015) Stocktaking of the Housing Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Opportunities. World Bank, Washington, DC.