Housing ex per ts have sa i d government has failed to prioritise housing despite it being a basic human need, and has been neglected as a national priority.
The concerns are corroborated by a UN Habitat, State of African Cities Report 2010, which indicates that Malawi has a high rural-to-urban migration at 5.3 percent, shows that by 2010, Malawi needed about 21 000 new housing units annually to meet demand by 2020.
That target was never achieved, leaving supply far below demand and pushing housing rentals beyond the reach of most households.
Fifteen years later, the crisis remains acute, with experts warning that housing has long been neglected as a national priority. Grace Khumaro, a housing expert based at the Malawi University
of Business and Applied Sciences (Mubas), said Malawi has failed to prioritise housing despite it being a basic human need.
the country’s towns and cities . | Nation
“I feel Malawi does not prioritise housing, yet housing is one of the basic needs. Housing is treated as secondary under the Ministry of Lands. There is no stand-alone ministry for housing. It is just a department and is not given adequate financial resources. Besides, housing in Malawi is being controlled by people who did not study housing,” said Khumaro.
She noted that access to mortgage financing is limited, while the cost of construction materials and land prices in urban areas remain prohibitively high, thereby disadvantaging most of those that dream of having their own house someday.
“With the high cost of construction materials and expensive urban land, many people cannot afford to build their own houses,” she said.
Khumaro further criticised government policy expectations, arguing that relying on MHC to address national housing demand was unrealistic.
“It was a far-reaching dream to assume that Malawi Housing Corporation alone would satisfy housing demand. Since its inception in 1964, MHC has constructed no more than 20 000 housing units,” she said.
She added that poor land
management practi ces have worsened the crisis.
“Huge pieces of land are allocated to a few individuals while we still have underdeveloped urban spaces. As a result, people are being pushed out of cities and end up constructing houses in areas such as Airwing in Lilongwe, Mpemba, Chileka and Lunzu in Blantyre. These areas were meant for agriculture to support urban populations,” she said.
Khumaro called for a national reflection on urban planning and housing policy.
“As a country, we need to examine what went wrong, how our planning system operates and what must be done to resolve the crisis. If people constructing outside urban areas were allowed to develop within planned urban spaces, the housing crisis would significantly reduce,” she said.
Real estate exper t Joseph Ngongole agreed, citing policy gaps in land distribution and housing planning.
“There are serious gaps in land distribution policies. City and district councils, the Ministry of Lands and MHC focus on individuals instead of investors who can implement large-scale housing projects. There is also no clear guidance on housing designs per allocated land,” he said.
Ngongole explained that coordinated development requires designated housing types per location, such as one-bedroom, two-bedroom or three-bedroom units, to cater for different income groups.
He also said developers lack incentives and proper targeting.
“There is poor targeting of developers during land allocation and a lack of subsidies. For instance, Lilongwe City Council once planned to allocate land to investors. One investor I consulted was offered over 50 plots but failed to purchase any due to lack of capital. With subsidies and incentives, many investors could participate,” he said.
Ngongole suggested subsidising const r uction mater i a ls and establishing a government-led housing vehicle to build homes for civil servants.
Another real estate expert, Prince Matchika, managing partner of Real Estate Talk Malawi, echoed these concerns, saying Malawi has never been deliberate in its housing policies.
“Housing supply has largely been left to the government. The private sector does not see sufficient returns because construction costs are high, making affordable housing difficult to deliver,” he said.
Matchika called for reforms aimed at lowering costs and attracting private investment, stressing the importance of long-term planning.
“We need long-term policies that support private investment, make housing finance accessible and ensure efficient land use. Housing supply must also be regularly monitored to match demand,” he said.
Efforts to obtain comment from officials at the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development and the Malawi Housing Corporation proved futile as they had not responded to questionnaires sent on December 8 2025.
However, experts agree that without deliberate reforms, Malawi’s housing crisis will continue to worsen, pushing more citizens out of urban centres and into informal settlements, including mountains and hills.
They argue that the solution lies not only in building more houses, but in reshaping policies to make housing affordable, accessible and sustainable
