Kimmy On Her Experience In Accra – Real Estate Is Not For The Faint Hearted.

I had the most enlightening conversation about relocating with her husband from Europe to Accra, Ghana. She talks about rent, real estate and groceries with me. Enjoy.

Hadassah: Why Did You Choose To Move To Accra, Ghana?

Kimmy: It was not a deliberate choice, it was a case of “I need to japa anywhere but Nigeria” My husband actually got a role here. We were in Europe and we just felt it would be good to kind of go back to familiar terrains and Ghana is familiar because obviously, it’s West Africa. I’ve been to Ghana before, and so has he, not to live but we had spent some time here as individuals when we were not married. So, we felt, why don’t we just come have a living experience as a couple here, it’s also closer to home anyways, so it’s a win-win.

Hadassah: How Much Did It Cost You To Relocate To Accra?

Kimmy: I’m not sure I put down the numbers fully because, to be honest, we didn’t have a lot of stuff. We are pretty light travellers. We just had like two suitcases per person and yeah it was just more around the flight ticket prices and I have to check how much it cost because I can’t remember anymore. It was just flight tickets that we had to pay for.

The accommodation was sorted out with the company before we came but then we got ours later. One thing I want to say is accommodation is expensive in Accra. There are a lot of Airbnb, hotels and short-stay apartments but they are expensive and most of them charge in dollars and not cedes which is the Ghanaian currency.

Hadassah: Where In Ghana Do You Stay?

Kimmy: I’m currently living in Accra.

Hadassah: I’ve Heard A Lot About Rent In Accra, What Is Rent Like Over There?

Kimmy: Lol, you’re starting me off on a whole new trajectory. Rent is expensive, at least in Accra. It can be less expensive if you are a bit flexible and you’re happy to live outside of town and you are not a foreigner. Once a foreigner and they know you’re a foreigner and you also want to live in town, and also whether you’re a foreigner or not, so long as you want to live in town, it is expensive. I’m talking dollars here and I found that a huge contrast to Abuja which is where I used to live years ago.

I know everything has gone up with inflation but it’s still not comparable to what the cost of renting a house here is. What you get renting a house in Abuja for like 2.5 million naira in a nice neighbourhood, places like Wuye, Jabi, Utako here you get it for maybe $2,000, $2,500. You don’t need to quote me on that, lol but the point is renting is expensive, so if you want to stay in town, you have to be ready to pay dollars especially if you’re a foreigner.

I think their real estate market is like that because there’s a huge expat community so there are a lot of white people here and so their companies are usually willing to pay or they are earning so much that they’re happy to pay that. Some of the apartments are not nice but a lot of them can be nice. They feel like apartments that you would see abroad but again they are really expensive.

On average, a one-apartment furnished bedroom would go for $1,500, a two-bedroom furnished apartment would go for $2,500 and then it keeps climbing. I know someone who is paying $5,000 for an apartment. 

If you’re thinking about renting, you can go further out of town and you might get a cheaper alternative but generally, it’s not the cheapest thing.

Hadassah: Tell Me About Feeding And the Cost Of Groceries

Kimmy: I’ll say that in my opinion, the cost of groceries here is still more expensive than the cost of groceries in Abuja. I’m using Abuja as my yardstick for me because things were cheaper there and I lived a long time there. My mum still stays there and she’s been to Ghana and she says the same thing, it’s still cheaper in Abuja. Maybe it’s comparable to Lagos but I wouldn’t know because I haven’t lived in Lagos so I would not know how things compare but I know Ghana is expensive.

A lot of people would go to ShopRite to shop, there’s another place called Palace Mall, another one called Max Mart, those are the three big ones and they are a few others in terms of groceries. People would go to these places because they stock up on foreign things.

There are some things you don’t get that elsewhere. For example, in the market, I’ve never seen things like sweet peppers but I’ll get them in the mall and big grocery stores. I also do go to the market and I’m able to get some food items from there, especially those ones that are cheaper. Why would I buy something like rice in the store when it might be cheaper in the market?

That’s it in terms of feeding and the cost of groceries. I’ll also sometimes get things around, example would be for fruits, I have a fruit vendor that I just go to. it’s not a market, but a small kiosk, not like the big grocery store. It’s a mix of the three for me. It is expensive, in my opinion, but it’s okay. 

I also found that they don’t have as many markets as there are in Abuja. There’s a very big market called the Makola Market and there are some other smaller markets. In Abuja, neighbourhoods still have like one small market but I don’t feel it’s the same here, I might be wrong, maybe I have not explored enough but from my own experience and from speaking to the locals and walking with the locals, that’s what I have discovered.

Hadassah: That was quite informative, thank you for your time.

Kimmy: My pleasure.