Give priority to housing – Abuja Housing Show urges Buhari

Chief Executive Officer of Fesadeb Communication Limited, Festus Adebayo, organizer of Abuja Housing Show told Daily Trust that housing should be given major attention because housing development stimulates economic growth and job creation in the economy.He stated: “Indeed, housing construction is one of the most used indices for gauging the economic situation in most developed […]

Chief Executive Officer of Fesadeb Communication Limited, Festus Adebayo, organizer of Abuja Housing Show told Daily Trust that housing should be given major attention because housing development stimulates economic growth and job creation in the economy.
He stated: “Indeed, housing construction is one of the most used indices for gauging the economic situation in most developed countries. As a matter of fact, housing construction indices, such as the Case-Schiller index, are some of the most common measures used by analysts to gauge economic trends in OECD countries and in the US.”
He regretted that many African countries do not give the housing sector the attention it deserves.
“For example, looking at the size of mortgage finance as a share of GDP of various countries, in the UK, mortgage finance to GDP ratio is about 80 percent and 77 percent in the US.
“For Hong Kong, this ratio is 50percent, across Europe the average is about 50 percent, and for Malaysia it is 32 percent. For many African countries, the ratio is low: 2 percent for Botswana, 2 percent for Ghana, and only 0.5 percent for Nigeria. South Africa is the outlier with mortgage finance at 31 percent of GDP.,” Adebayo explained.
According to him, housing sector can promote economic inclusion by creating jobs for craftsmen and artisans such as masons, plumbers, welders, electricians, painters and so on.