Estate Practitioner Tasks Govt On Mortgage Development

Worried by poor state
of the Nigerian mortgage market, an estate surveyor and valuer in Port Harcourt, Sam Nyekwene, has urged the Federal Government to muster the political will to develop the mortgage sector.
Nyekwene who made this known in a chat with The Tide, recently in Port Harcourt noted that mortgage finance has remained a major key in addressing housing deficit in the country.
He said that there are millions of Nigerians without homes according to statistical records, adding that if nothing is drastically done to develop the mortgage market to the point of making finance for development easier and affordable the sector would experience crisis in the near future.
According to him, past efforts made by government to develop the mortgage sector was not concrete, stressing that the effort could not succeed due to poor implementation.
Nyekwene who is a member of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESX) posited that the mortgage market has remained underdeveloped in Nigeria, and that the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and other institutions have not done enough to tackle this manance.
He said “There should be a legislation, which will serve as a legal framework to guarantee those who operate mortgage have concrete source of funding also makes same available for development under good terms and conditions.”
According to him, things and terms should be clearly and legally defined on how operators funds can be generated with security and also how these mortgage funds could be easily accessed by those who qualify to have them.
The valuer maintained that if the mortgage market is properly developed, that home ownership in Nigeria will naturally grow, and task the Federal authorities to ensure that the speedy development of mortgage market is taken very seriously.

Corlins Walter