Nigeria’s housing deficit of over 20 million units can be reduced if access to a functioning and affordable mortgage system improves, according to Mustapha Njie, Group Managing Director, TAF Africa Global.
While it is impossible to construct houses that cost N4-5 million, Njie explained this during a zoom interview with africahousingnews . According to him access to cheap finance can enable the development of properties that will be affordable for many of Nigeria’s middle class or even the low-income earners.
“Housing prices can come down in Nigeria if we have access to affordable mortgages,” Njie said.
According to him, there is also a need for a partnership with multilateral that can offer affordable financing to enable off-takers to pay less for housing properties.
“What we have done that’s working in The Gambia is to engage banks to issue mortgages. They are now issuing single-digit interest rates to Gambians in diaspora and then 13 percent for locals in the Gambia.”
