Expert urges FG to provide long-term funds to mortgage institutions
NAN-HE-13
Funds
By Lilian.Chukwu
Lagos, July 27, 2017 (NAN) Mr Kingsley Theophilus, Chairman, African Shelter Support and Empowerment initiative, has appealed to the Federal Government to provide long-term funds to mortgage institutions to ease housing development in the country.
Theophilus told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos that affordable housing could be achieved through effective mortgage system, which was not available in the country.
“The current situation in our mortgage industry does not make it feasible for the average Nigerian to afford a decent accommodation.
“It was only about four years ago that the loan one can receive through National Housing Fund (NHF) was increased from N5 million to N15 million.
“But the conditions for accessing the loan are tough, including the required deposit by the mortgagee,” he said.
Theophilus said there were so many obstacles in the housing industry, adding that it would be difficult for the average man to scale all the requirements and obstacles.
“The Land Use Act of 1978 is a major cause of the difficulties and if it is not reviewed, the hope of curbing the housing deficit will be difficult,” he said.
He said the conventional banks that claimed to be offering mortgage loans were not doing so for the benefit of the common man since the loans were being given on commercial considerations.
“It is unlikely that the low and middle income earners without multiple streams of income can benefit from it or access them
“For the mortgage institutions to efficiently render mortgage services, there must be availability of long-term funding to the institutions to enhance their lending capacity.
“Lack of availability of cheap long-term fund is a major hindrance to effective operation of the mortgage institutions in Nigeria,” he said.
According to him, with the current state of the mortgage industry and challenges of the property sector, there is no hope for low-income earners to own landed property in Nigeria.
Theophilus added that effective mortgage system was supposed to be designed, targeting the low/middle income-earners, the widows, less privileged, the poor and not the rich who could easily build or buy a house. (NAN)
LUC/IA
Edited by Idris Abdulrahman