Abuja – GIZ, a German Development Finance Institution said about $300 million (N60 billion), was needed to provide mortgage finance to low income earners in Nigeria.
The Country Director, GIZ, Dr Thomas Kirsch, stated this at the Affordable Housing Practitioner’s Workshop in Abuja on Thursday.
Kirsch said the solution to bridging this gap was in the hands of private investors who could provide shelter and make profit as well.
“There is a significant mortgage debt gap in Nigeria with pressure to provide affordable housing for its citizens. This portends a lot of opportunities for private investors.
“Investments in housing microfinance and other aspects of the incremental housing construction delivery chain are very likely to find demand.
“There is also a growing market for alternative building materials as they are most cost-efficient and more time-efficient,” he said.
The Chief Executive Officer, Millard Fuller Foundation, Mr Sam Odia, said the market for affordable houses was the 77 per cent of Nigerians that earn below N50,000 to N70,000 monthly.
He urged stakeholders to develop houses for people along that class who are seriously in need rather than the wealthy that could afford to buy houses of their choice.
“Nigeria requires 16 million new homes to meet the teeming need of its populace.
“These are vast majority that earn less than four dollars a day, yet for decades government and developers have built homes for practically everyone except this majority.
“It is a sad situation when the poor are neglected and developers continue to build for the rich. That is why most of the houses developed in recent years are empty.
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“We at fuller are committed to providing affordable houses and we call on the government to support us by strengthening local building material market industries,” he said.
Odia said the foundation had built 108 studio apartment units at Luvu-Madaki in Nassarawa state and given to low income earners as mortgage at a zero interest rate.
He said eventually each of the houses would be sold at N900 thousand only.
Meanwhile the Head, Special Products Group, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria, Mr Shehu Osidi said a good size of Nigerians have been able to access mortgages to buy houses through the bank.
“The role of bank is to provide access to affordable housing to low and middle income earners who are contributors to the National Housing Fund.
“To achieve this, the bank has come up with a number of concessionary loan Windows.
“At the moment we give mortgage loans at six per cent, which is the cheapest in the country.
“We also provide construction finance to developers at 10 per cent. The idea is to enable us control the prices of houses in that market so that ordinary Nigerians can afford those houses,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was attended by government bodies, multinational organisations, banks and financial institutions, builders and developers among others. (NAN)
N60bn needed to bridge housing deficit in Nigeria – GIZ
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