Business
Experts Offer Panacea To Housing Deficit
Not satisfied with the current mortgage system which was believed to be the reason for huge housing deficit across the country, stakeholders in the housing sector have called for a change in the mortgage practice to be able to bridge the gross housing deficit across the country.
The real estate experts maintained that huge sum of money needs to be committed by the government to the provision of affordable shelter across the country if any appreciable impact is to be made by the federal government on the matter.
Making his views known to The Tide a property developer in Port Harcourt, Micheal Ihunda stated that there is very huge housing deficit in the country, especially in some fast growing metropolis like Port Harcourt where demand for housing is very high, but with slow investment on mass housing.
He said that non availability of long-term mortgage was really responsible for the huge housing deficit that is noticeable in the sector, pointing out that many banks are not willing to give out loans on long-term mortgage.
Ihunda however, opined that the few estate he had been able to develop was not achieved through financial institutions mortgage, but through personal savings, and urged the federal government to develop new mortgage scheme that will make it easier for developers to have access to funds with a reasonable mortgage period.
Meanwhile, a Mortgage Lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr. Olasupo Shasore has said that housing deficit across the country stands at 14 million units, and pegged the cost of developing a unit at N3.5 million.
Shasore at a seminar on Tenancy Laws, Arbitration Rules and Mortgage Bill last week stated that Nigeria needs about N14 trillion to bridge what he described as a huge housing deficit.
He, however, expressed disappointment, that the situation is not receiving the required attention from the mortgage finance institutions of the economy, as mortgage finance only contributes 0.5 percent of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The mortgage expert also faulted the present practice, which is not sustaining housing development due to low fund available to execute housing scheme and urged government to come up with new scheme to boost housing development.