Access to mortgage financing key to economic growth, says Osonuga
Mr. Oluwatobi Osonuga is the Managing Director of Chateau-royal Real Estate Limited. In this interview with Assistant Editor, Finance and Economy, CHIJIOKE NELSON, he speaks on the trickling effects of a well financed mortgage sector on the economy and go
My thought on affordable housing is simple. Low- and middle-class earners should be able to have where they can call their own without breaking the bank. Housing is very crucial given the radical increase in our population. The need for housing cannot be over emphasised as the need for shelter is paramount. As a necessity, the purchasing cost should be considerable and not over valued to allow middle-class Nigerians to benefits. To this end, government and private businesses like ours should on policies (from the government that encourages ease of doing business etc) and innovation (from the private sector that helps drive cost downwards). That is why at Chateau-royal Real Estate, we are committed to giving young minds investment opportunities to own a piece of affordable luxury, be a part of investors and smile in the nearest future by boasting: “I have got a shrewd investment”. We currently have two fast selling projects Maplewoods Ibeju-lekki and Peach Palms Abijo in the industry with unbeatable offers. To some degree, true, but largely not true. However an ever focused team driven by innovation, latest building technology, and trends around the world in the sector has been engaged by us, giving birth to some innovative milestones. I will also say that the sector is one of the fastest growing sectors of this economy given its immense contribution to the growth and development. Though this sector is highly competitive and this is due to the different efforts and innovations various developers bring into play. As regards access to mortgage, I would recommend a single digit interest rate. Currently, we have several mortgage facilities partnering with us on our projects. I also recommend a more flexible policy from financial institutions and government to help cushion the housing deficit in the country to also encourage sector players and investors with friendly policies. To me, the government is trying, but I believe more can still be done in helping developers with mortgage facilities and friendly policies. The government should quit seeking the face of the people only during elections, but should provide basic needs and necessities needed for economic growth and sustainable development. This would help the sector meet the needs of more willing investors in the sector and also cushion the deficit of housing. In retrospect, it is an ongoing concern primarily because of the cost of materials, professional fees, and other statutory commitments needed to deploy standard units to the populace but in a short while that monopoly over the people would soon be broken. However, through our team of ingenious young professionals we have come up with cutting edge technology to create solid alternatives to the erstwhile conventional bricks and mortar and payment schemes flexible enough to accommodate your budget. Due to our extremely suitable, affordable and flexible payment plan, we have made property acquisition easy for individuals from all works of life either using the property for residential purpose or for investment purpose. More so, our major achievements are the rate our estates are fast selling within and in diasporas; Maplewoods Ibeju-lekki with an initial deposit of N100, 000 with flexible payment plan for over 12 months with monthly installment of N60,000 and Peach Palms, Abijo, with Certificate of Occupancy that takes as low as N4.8 million to own a piece of its luxury. Like I said earlier, the sector’s ideals are achievable through innovation and deployment of technology and of course, some partnerships that have long term vision. In addition to the aforesaid, government partnership and ease of doing business in the sector would go a long way in determining cost. So many companies like ours have to put into considerations provision of adequate security, road networks, portable water, social amenities and power as part of their plan. These constitute a huge percentage factored into the housing units. Whereas, if the government had basic infrastructure in place, what would be needed is just to plug our infrastructure into the existing one. Ask yourself where Dubai was in the 1990’s. They were busy building the future with the support of their monarch (government) and within a short while, everybody needed a piece of real estate in that axis.