Housing: Nigeria Needs 780,000 Units Annually – NHF

The National Housing
Fund (NHF) has said that at least, 780,000 housing units are required in Nigeria annually to bridge the housing deficit in the country.
Making this known while speaking at a forum on housing in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State Capital last week the Coordinator of NHF, Abubaka, Umaru, stated that the 780,000 housing units so needed annually will in a few years tackle the housing demand, if implemented.
According to him, the provision of such housing times for the people will be in line with the World Banks agenda and the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), as many Nigerian income earners do not have a home.
He said that something urgent must be done to bridge the housing deficit, adding that if nothing is being done about his, there will be an estimated homeless population of about 24 million people in Nigeria in the near future.
Umaru also blamed the poor housing delivery in Nigeria on the short Mortgage tenure system obtainable in the country, and said only few primary Mortgage Institutions in the country give Mortgage loans that are repayable beyond 10 years.
“The financial Institutions in the country offer loans, not mortgages. This is because Mortgage tenure, as practised in many countries is beyond a minimum of 20 years”, he said.
The Coordinator said that high Mortgage interest rate had discouraged many investors and Nigerians from aspiring to own their own houses.
He suggested that Mortgage loans should be given out by Mortgage Institution at single dig it interest rates.

Corlins Walter