Confab proffers recipe for housing

The President Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) , Mr. Emeka Eleh said at the event, eminent speakers and resource persons deliberated on housing issues looking at the problems from three perspectives:  access to land, which remains a major challenge; access to affordable mortgage finance and the numerous legal constraints that impede development […]

The President Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) , Mr. Emeka Eleh said at the event, eminent speakers and resource persons deliberated on housing issues looking at the problems from three perspectives:  access to land, which remains a major challenge; access to affordable mortgage finance and the numerous legal constraints that impede development in the sector.
He said the issue of our housing challenges remain a very fundamental one that has to be addressed because housing is a basic necessity of man and no nation can claim to be developed if it cannot house its citizens adding that addressing our housing challenges is a major milestone in our march to attain our millennium development goals while the state of the housing sector is a major determinant of the state of the overall economy.
Eleh said mortgages in the true sense of the word do not exist in Nigeria.  “A situation where banks grant “mortgages” at 23-25 per cent interest rates for about five years or the like cannot conform to a proper mortgage.  Unavailability of mortgages at affordable rates is a major impediment in the housing sector and there is indeed no way the sector can develop without a review of our mortgage laws.  
“Our desire is for mortgages at single digit interest rate over a period of 20 – 30 years with our teaming youth population.  This can have the effect of accelerating growth in the housing sector and home ownership.  To achieve this, we recommend a direct government intervention to bring down interest rates for mortgage to single digit levels,” the NIESV President said.
He also said that Nigerians have for a long time now been clamouring for a reform of our land policy that will entail that the entire land is surveyed and people given title to their land.  Though the task involved in this is enormous, he said the economic, social and developmental benefits are unquantifiable.