NMRC, GIZ seal pact to tackle constraints to affordable housing delivery

The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company ( NMRC) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit ( GIZ) have joined forces, through a collaborative agreement signed in Abuja recently to tackle constraints, especially finance and data, to affordable housing delivery in Nigeria.

This is good news, especially for low income earners in Nigeria for whom the affordability factor in the country’s housing market is a big issue, having denied them the opportunity to own homes. The partnership is expected to address challenges associated with finance and data.

NMRC is Nigeria’s secondary mortgage institution that is private sectorled with the mandate to increase liquidity in the country’s mortgage system and also to catalyze affordable housing delivery. GIZ is an agency that implements technical cooperation projects on behalf of the German Government and other development partners. Its activities in Nigeria which date back to 2002 are focused on

sustainable economic development programmes.

The collaboration of the two companies targets affordable housing value chain, focusing on synergizing and deploying their capacities and expertise which Kehinde Ogundimu, NMRC’S CEO, hopes will bring about access to finance while also driving the creation of an economy around affordable housing.

GIZ’S cluster coordinator for sustainable economic development, Hans Ludwig Bruns, explained that both firms recognised the great potential in joining forces and leveraging synergies for the benefit of affordable housing in the GIZ-SEDIN targeted states, including Ogun, Plateau and Niger states.

Nigeria’s housing market comprises two major divides that continue to influence the dynamics of demand and supply as well as affordability. The premium end is oversupplied with few off-takers while the lower end is undersupplied, leading to the growing housing deficit in the country.

“The GIZ- NMRC collaboration is in furtherance of the efforts of the government in Nigeria to resolve the housing crisis in the country, through collaboration with the World Bank and international cooperative institutions like GIZ.

It is expected that NMRC in collaboration with GIZ will promote housing accessibility through financial innovation as well as foreclosure mechanisms that facilitate the creation of an enabling environment for mortgages and investments in the housing sector of the targeted states.

The collaboration will also facilitate housing growth and development and also credible data collection from the participating states. “The data component of the collaboration will help to identify gaps, specific constraints and analyse needs in affordable housing demand and supply that form the basis for the agreement,” Ogundimu assured.

He assured further that the parties will jointly explore and coordinate training and capacity building activities that have mutual interest, adding that these activities would be implemented by separate agreements in mutual understanding and in conformity with the regulations and policies of both parties.