PurposeThis study aimed to identify the link between the income levels of government workers and the prices of real estate houses in Ghana to identify the prevailing mortgage gaps and to stimulate both reactive and proactive government policies backed by continuous stakeholder engagements under the new normal.Design/methodology/approachThe quantitative approach was used for this study. Two data collection methods were used to achieve the objectives of the study: the survey method, using a questionnaire to collect the primary data, and the use of documentary information as the source of secondary data. For the primary data, prices of two-bedroom and three-bedroom houses were collected. The secondary data collected were: (1) salary levels of government employees and (2) mortgage values prevailing. The three data sets were analysed and structured to identify the relationship between income levels and the prices of real estate houses within the prevailing mortgage system.FindingsIt will require a quadrupling of the salaries of only the highest income earners of government employees to afford the average price of a basic two-bedroom and three-bedroom housing in Ghana. Largely, government employees cannot afford these houses with the current price levels and the mortgage systems available. The real estate market in Ghana has not focused on lower-earning groups. The effects of the new normal resulting from the effects of Covid-19 require a paradigm change.Originality/valueThe paper established the relationship between salary levels of government employees and the process of basic accommodation types on offer in the Ghanaian market by the real estate industry: two- and three-bedroom houses. The findings will help real estate developers to consider their approach to housing designs and construction methods and the pricing to ensure that they meet the needs of the public sector workers who could form a large customer base.

An experimental investigation was conducted to evaluate the impact of different curing practices on the porosity and compressive strength of concrete. The targeted compressive strength of the concrete at 28-day of curing was 20 N/mm2. Plain concrete cubes were prepared with a mix ratio 1:1.5:3 by weight and 0.6 water-cement ratio. A total of 120 concrete cubes were tested on 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 56th day curing periods for slump, porosity and compressive strength. The four curing methods used were immersion, jute sack, plastic sheet and sprinkling which were all carried out in the laboratory under the same average environmental conditions of 27 ± 20°C temperature and 75% relative humidity. The results from the study showed that slump values were within the range of 52mm to 58mm which is within the medium range of 25 to 100mm, hence a true slump was achieved. The porosity of all samples decreased with age (i.e. at the dried state, immersion recorded the lowest 4.35%, followed by jute sack with 5.25%, plastic sheet 5.29% and sprinkling 5.55%). Again, the pattern of increases in concrete density (immersion curing produced concrete with the highest mean densities of 2369 kg/m3, jute 2360 kg/m3 ,plastic sheet 2277 kg/m3, sprinkling 2229 kg/m3 all for 56 days) was similar to that of the compressive strength (i.e immersion curing method yielded the highest compressive strength of 25.43 N/mm2, jute method 23.90 N/mm2, plastic method 23.47 N/mm2 , sprinkling method 22.33 N/mm2 for 56 days curing ages respectively). Therefore, increases in both compressive strength and densities of concrete cube is a function of curing method. The study concludes that the immersion curing method has the greater effect on the properties of concrete since it yielded the highest strengths. The recommendation is made for further studies on the impact of curing methods on the porosity and compressive strength of concrete on the field since this study was done in the laboratory under control conditions.