Studies reveal that almost 75 percent of Nigerian houses are substandard, said Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, during his address at the recently concluded 16th Africa International Housing Show (AIHS) in Abuja.
According to him, despite increased efforts to provide decent homes for Nigerians, access to funds has remained a challenge, adding that the government continues to support the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), which was founded in 2015, with guarantees that allow it to access the capital market competitively to refinance mortgages.
Its key role is mortgage refinancing which it does by raising long-term funds from the capital market to refinance conforming mortgage portfolios of mortgage and commercial banks in Nigeria.
Over the years, the company has been engaging and collaborating with key stakeholders and organizations within and outside the built industry, who are capable of adding values to enhance its operations across board.
In line with the commitment to supporting stakeholder initiatives that stimulate housing market development NMRC has remained a platinum partner of Africa largest housing event for the past 6years.
Also, as part of it’s collaborative support to the development of the sector, NMRC last week hosted NIPROTECH 2022, a Property Technology capacity-building conference in Lagos, that featured business presentations by over ten (10) Nigerian PropTech Start-up companies, covering different aspects of the housing value chain to potential investors and participants.
This is part of the noble fulfilments of its promises made at the 16th AIHS, to leverage innovative approaches and initiatives to spur housing development in the country.
Again, in a bid to introduce efficiencies at several points of the housing value chain, thus engendering innovation in the market, NMRC showcased a lot of innovative ideas at the 2022 AIHS, from which many Nigerians have started benefiting from.
The company, under the leadership kehinde ogundimu also believes that young people desire more access to job opportunities and a better quality of life. As a result, over the past five years, NMRC has been partnering the Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to empower unemployed youth with vocational skills in building & construction.
Recently, as part of effort to foster international partnership, NMRC hosted a delegation from the Bank of Uganda (BoU). The delegation was in the country for a one-week benchmarking/knowledge-sharing mission to develop and regulate Mortgage Refinancing Institutions.
During their visit, the duo held multiple strategic experience-sharing sessions discussing NMRC’s governance structures, operations, and market growth activities, as well as the impact they have had since the organization’s inception in 2015.
The NMRC has also successfully addressed the liquidity issue in Nigeria’s housing industry by establishing a profitable link between the debt capital market and the financial market.
The company has invested about N30 billion in refinancing mortgage portfolios in Nigeria boosting its access to an infinite amount of capital to ensure that Nigerian mortgage lending institutions can refinance 15 to 20-year house loans that fulfill its stringent consistent underwriting standards.
NMRC is also planning to promote green building methods by collaborating with partners such as the IFC EDGE World Bank to reform and put the housing sector on a cleaner and more sustainable path to growth and development.
Relying on its mandate and building on the quick implementation of its promises at the AIHS 2022, NMRC is devoted to lowering barriers to homeownership, as well as bringing liquidity, affordability, accessibility, and stability to Nigeria’s housing market.