Federal Mortgage Bank to determine actual housing deficit

The Acting Managing Director of the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), Richard Esin has promised to determine the actual housing deficit in Nigeria by 2018.

Speaking at the first Enugu  Housing and Real Estate Development forum organised by Enugu Chamber of Commerce,Industry, Mines and Agriculture,  in conjunction with Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria, Esin said Nigeria had no reliable statistics to back up the housing deficit in the country.

According to him, the current 17 million deficit was a figure that had been in use since but was not realistic.

“The 17 million deficits has been one figure that has been around for a while. It is over ten years since we started hearing about it.”

He said that they have already started talking with the National Population Commission so that they would be carried along when conducting the population census exercise proposed for 2018.

“We will work with them to determine the housing deficit,” he said.

Esin regretted that the Nigerian mortgage system was still underdeveloped in driving home ownership.

He said that a larger chunk of the FMBN resources would henceforth be channelled to providing mortgages for contributors who earn below 10 million naira per annum.“Our focus is now primarily with the mass target which are the lower and medium income earners.“If we do that there will be a profound impact in the number of people that will be able to promote home ownership in the country.“

The MD said it would address the home ownership needs of over 75 per cent of the population and promote opportunities for employment creation.

Esin, said that a block of eight flats could generate 93 direct and indirect jobs per site, the growing housing deficit figure and create relative demand for value chain services.

He further stated that the ministry of housing was bringing a certain level of standardisation into housing construction that had never been in the sector, saying it was meant to encourage people who want to invest in the value chain activities.