Why Can’t Africans Own Their Homes? Rwanda’s Mortgage Problem Has a Solution - But It Needs Courage
By Grace Uwacu | Founder, Elimo Real Estate
The numbers tell a story that should embarrass us all.
Across sub-Saharan Africa, mortgage debt as a percentage of GDP averages less than 3%. In Germany it is 50%. In the United Kingdom, 80%. Rwanda sits at under 2%. Yet Rwanda is one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies, with a government that has made housing a national priority and a capital city that never stops building.
Something does not add up.
I started Elimo because I believe that every Rwandan family deserves a home they can call their own. A real, tangible, legally-owned home. But the more I work in this space, the clearer it becomes that the barrier is ambition’s opposite - a financial system that has not caught up with the people it is supposed to serve.
I know this because it happened to me
Years ago, I was that entrepreneur. Saving carefully. Paying rent every month without fail. Running a business that worked. And yet every bank I approached for a mortgage saw the same thing: informal income, no payslips, no conventional credit trail. The system could not see me.
I eventually found a way forward - raising the money through sheer determination and discipline, buying my first apartment and paying it off fully within 18 months. But it was steep. It was breaking. And it should not have been that hard.
I did not lack the money or the will. I lacked a system designed to work for someone like me.
I am far from alone. The Rwandan entrepreneur who saves carefully, pays rent on time, and runs a profitable business is demonstrating exactly the financial discipline a lender should want. But because her income is informal, her savings are in mobile money, and she cannot produce years of payslips, the system cannot see her either. The tools banks use to assess risk were designed for a different kind of economy - and Rwanda’s economy has long since outgrown them.
The cost of a mortgage that most people cannot afford
Walk into any commercial bank in Kigali today and ask about a mortgage. You will likely be quoted an interest rate of 16% per annum - and before you even get there, you will need a 30% deposit. On a RWF 30 million home loan over 15 years, that translates to monthly repayments of roughly RWF 450,000 to 500,000. The median monthly income in Rwanda is approximately RWF 150,000.
The mathematics shut most families out entirely. And across Africa, the story is the same - high interest rates, large deposits, short loan tenors, and lending criteria built for a formal employment market that represents a small fraction of the actual workforce.
What is changing globally - and what Rwanda can learn
The global housing finance landscape is shifting. In 2024, the International Finance Corporation committed over $2 billion to affordable housing projects across emerging markets, focused specifically on de-risking mortgage products for lower-income borrowers. Kenya’s Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company, backed by the World Bank, has begun bringing down mortgage rates by providing long-term liquidity to commercial banks. Nigeria is piloting rent-to-own schemes that allow families to build equity without a traditional deposit.
The common thread in every successful intervention is partnership. No single actor - not government, not banks, not developers, not international investors - can solve this alone. When they work together around a shared product and a shared risk framework, markets open.
Rwanda has the foundations. The National Bank of Rwanda has signalled its interest in developing the mortgage market. The Rwanda Housing Authority is active. BPR, I&M, and Equity Bank all have mortgage products - but they remain expensive and beyond reach for most. The Rwanda Mortgage Insurance Pilot, supported by UNDP, is one of the most promising recent initiatives: by insuring a portion of mortgage risk, it lowers the effective cost to banks and ultimately to borrowers. This is exactly the kind of innovation that can break the logjam.
Fifteen years is not enough - and Rwanda’s youth proves it
Rwanda’s average age is under 20. Most first-time buyers entering the market today are in their late twenties. A 25-year mortgage taken at 28 is fully repaid by 53 - with decades of productive life and rising income still ahead. Yet most Rwandan banks cap mortgage tenors at 15 years, which compresses monthly repayments and pushes costs beyond what most borrowers can sustain.
The logic for short tenors is risk management. But here is the question worth asking: what exactly are we de-risking against, and who should be carrying that risk?
This is where the insurance industry has a largely untapped role to play. Mortgage protection insurance - covering a borrower in the event of death, disability, or prolonged unemployment - exists in many markets precisely to give lenders the confidence to extend tenors. In South Africa, mortgage insurance has been a cornerstone of the affordable housing finance model for decades. In Rwanda, the product is nascent and largely unscaled.
A 25-year mortgage at 16% on a RWF 30 million loan reduces monthly repayments by roughly RWF 100,000 compared to a 15-year product. That difference is the gap between a family that qualifies and one that doesn’t.
Longer tenors, backed by appropriate insurance products, would transform affordability without requiring banks to take on additional risk. We are actively exploring partnerships with insurance providers who want to develop this market. If you are in that space, we want to hear from you.
The challenge I am putting to every stakeholder
To the banks: your mortgage books are small because your products were built for a customer who barely exists - the salaried professional with a 30% deposit and a formal employment contract. Design for the majority and the market multiplies.
To government: the mortgage interest tax relief available in Rwanda is not yet widely understood or effectively communicated. Make it visible. And consider whether a dedicated affordable housing fund - capitalised through pension funds and development finance - could bring rates down to single digits.
To the insurance industry: the young, ambitious, income-generating Rwandan borrower is a good risk. With the right product design, you can underwrite longer tenors, unlock a vast new market, and build a book that grows with Rwanda’s economy.
To developers: the demand at the middle and bottom of the market is enormous and largely unmet. Elimo is actively looking for developer partners who want to reach it.
To the diaspora: you are Rwanda’s most underleveraged housing asset. Diaspora remittances to Rwanda exceeded $500 million in 2023. A fraction of that, channelled through the right mortgage product, could transform the market. We are building those products.
Elimo’s commitment
We are building the end-to-end solution - from property search and advisory to financing partnerships and transaction support. Our door is open to every bank, developer, insurer, government agency, and international partner who shares this ambition.
The return on getting this right is a family with a home. And that, as we say at Elimo, is priceless.
Grace Uwacu is the Founder of Elimo, Rwanda’s emerging end-to-end real estate solutions platform. Elimo connects buyers, developers, financial partners, and insurers to make homeownership accessible for every Rwandan family.
ELIMO | End-to-End Real Estate Solutions | Kigali, Rwanda | Partnerships Welcome