How the Diaspora Demand Index is made

What's counted

We count enquiries the way all our public figures do: a tap on a listing's call button or WhatsApp button. Repeat taps by the same visitor on the same listing, channel and day count once, and the visitor is the signed-in account or, for a guest, the internet connection.

The index is the share of those enquiries that came from outside Ghana, with the count beside it. A share on its own can hide a small number, so we always show both.

How “from abroad” is decided

We use the country of the internet connection each enquiry's first tap came from. Any country other than Ghana counts as abroad, and the page shows which countries they were.

This is not nationality or where someone lives. A citizen in London counts as abroad; a visitor in Ghana using a foreign VPN may too; a foreign visitor in Ghana does not.

What's left out, and why

These are the Q3 2026 counts. Each quarter's release keeps its own.

• Enquiries on Ghana Property Centre, July–September 20265,772
• Country of the connection unknown−3
• Made through an advertiser's mini-site, not our listing pages−1
• From overseas connections that contacted more than 200 listings in the quarter (0 connections)0
• Counted in the index5,768
• Of which from abroad2,160

The overseas rule treats a connection whose taps all came from abroad, and which contacted more than 200 different listings in a quarter, as automated, and leaves out every enquiry it made that quarter. It never applies to connections in Ghana, where mobile networks share one connection among many people. How many enquiries it left out each quarter:

What history still includes

Before 21–26 September 2026, when today's traffic rules began, we could not tell staff taps or repeat taps apart. Quarters before Q4 2026 still include them; counting each person once a day removes most repeats.

Areas before September 2026

From September 2026 an enquiry is placed in its listing's area and category as recorded that month. For earlier enquiries, an area means each listing's current location: if an advertiser later moved a listing, its old enquiries moved with it. An enquiry whose listing no longer exists counts in the national figure and its country only.

Publishing thresholds and labels

We publish a figure for an area, category or country only when it has at least 100 enquiries from abroad, from at least 30 different connections, with no single connection making more than 20% of them. Otherwise the figure is withheld, never shown as zero. When withholding one figure would let it be worked out by subtraction from the others, we withhold the smallest neighbour too.

• Not enough enquiries from abroad for Q3 2026 Below the thresholds, or withheld to protect a neighbour. No value is shown anywhere, including in charts, where the quarter is a gap.
• Not available A change we can't work out, because one of the two quarters is withheld, the series hasn't run long enough, or a method change sits between them. Never shown as 0.
• Published retrospectively Quarters before the launch quarter, worked out and published at launch on 12 Oct 2026.
• Method changed Shown at Q2 2026 only if our check finds a step from the June 2026 page redesign. No change is computed across it.
• Corrected Changed after release. The old and new value and the reason are shown on the row.

Phone and WhatsApp

People abroad and at home reach advertisers differently. In Q3 2026:

• Enquiries from abroad by WhatsApp71.6%
• Enquiries from abroad by phone28.4%
• Enquiries from Ghana by WhatsApp60.1%
• Enquiries from Ghana by phone39.9%

A change in how people use the call and WhatsApp buttons can move the share, which is why we watch for page changes like the one below.

The June 2026 page redesign

On 19 June 2026 we redesigned the property page, including the call and WhatsApp buttons. A redesign can change how people enquire, so at launch we compared the share from abroad before and after it, and called it a step if the difference was larger than the bigger of 2.0 points and three standard errors.

What the check found: a step of -5.9 points, beyond the 2.4-point threshold. Q2 2026 carries the “Method changed” label, and changes across it read “Not available”.

Searches from abroad

From Q1 2027 we also publish the share of searches from abroad, nationally, by region and by category, under the same thresholds. Searches are recorded on a best-effort basis: a search that fails to record is not retried, so search counts are less complete than enquiry counts.

Quarters before 13 January 2026

Until 13 January 2026 we stored enquiry times without a time zone. Quarters before then may shift by a few hours at their edges.

Corrections policy

If we find an error after release, we publish a corrected version of that quarter, show the old and new value with the reason and the date on its row, and note it in the next release email. We never silently change a published figure.

How to cite

Quote the series, the quarter and the link to that quarter's row, so readers land on the figure you quoted.

Licence

The figures are free to quote and republish under CC BY 4.0: credit Ghana Property Centre and link to the page. No IP addresses, accounts, advertisers or individual listings are ever published.