Owning a decent house is still an unattainable goal for many African households. The lack of affordable housing finance, high costs of urban land and weak tenure security, rising construction costs, and prevalence of slums are major challenges to efforts to alleviate the continent’s housing crisis.
Ethiopia and Cameroon rank among the top three most unaffordable housing markets globally—trailing only behind Syria—based on their high Price-to-Income Ratios (PIR), according to the 2025 Global Housing Affordability Index published by Numbeo. The PIR is a key indicator that compares the cost of a typical home to a country’s median annual household income.
The data paints a stark picture for countries like Ethiopia and Cameroon, where citizens face almost five decades of income sacrifice just to own a modest home. In contrast, some African nations, like South Africa, have some of the most affordable housing ratios on the continent.
Below is the list of the eight African countries with the highest PIRs in 2025:
| Rank | Country | Price-to-Income Ratio (PIR) |
| 1 | Ethiopia | 47.1 |
| 2 | Cameroon | 46.6 |
| 3 | Mauritius | 18.5 |
| 4 | Egypt | 18.2 |
| 5 | Algeria | 16.7 |
| 6 | Morocco | 13.4 |
| 7 | Tunisia | 12.2 |
| 8 | South Africa | 3.2 |
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* Sources: ResearchGate; Business Insider Africa; Housing TV Africa.
