Nobody is qualified for mortgage in Nigeria -CEO Merrybell Group
Emmanuel Abisoye Oyelowo is the Group Managing Director of Merrybell Group which is into real estate and hospitality. In this interview with our reporter, he talks about the challenges in the housing sector. Except: and then spread the remaining for 25 years at 1.5 percent.
As it is today in Nigeria, we don’t have the social mortgage that is supposed to be put in place by the Federal Mortgage Bank or by the Federal Government so what we have is commercial mortgage and commercial mortgage is going at a rate of about 24-25 percent because normal facility today is about 28 percent and above, so how do you survive?
Another problem here is the legal provision that you cannot spend more than 25 percent of your monthly income on servicing of mortgage.
It is a policy problem or implementation?
I will answer that in two folds; the previous government has worked together with us over time to develop some blue print concerning the real estate sector. So we have the mortgage refinance scheme. Our problem is one, continuity and secondly, implementation. So we have enough, it is implementation that is the issue. So we cannot be relying on government.
How do you see rent to own scheme?
Rent to own is a fantastic idea; it is mortgage in another form.
The problem that we have is that it is only one state in Nigeria, Kaduna State, that has gotten the legal framework right, which is the law that helps you to repossess.
It is the only one that has been able to get the foreclosure law right. As the law stands today it favours the tenant so the legal framework is where the problem is.