FG embarks on nationwide survey to determine exact housing deficit

After years of speculation around the housing needs of the country, the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development says it is conducting a survey to determine the housing demand-supply gap variously estimated at 14 million, 16 million, and 17 million units, requiring a likewise estimated N56 trillion to bridge, all not verifiable from any known data or report.

According to the government, the national housing survey has become necessary to enable it establish the deficit in precise terms, as well as the funding required to address it, instead of relying on forecasts.

Government adds that the survey would also determine the capacity requirements for transforming the housing and urban development sector on a sustainable basis.

“One of the biggest problems that we have in the housing sector is lack of data.

People still quote 17 million housing units deficit many years after, because there is no other data to prove or disprove it,” says Erejuwa Gbadebo, a real estate consultant.

“Many houses have been demolished, burnt or new ones built, but no one is taking record of the new houses being built or the ones being lost,” she says.

Gbadebo, who is a former CEO of Broll Property Services, adds that one of the first things the housing industry should do is to start taking stock of what is available, what house-types there are, and what they change hands for.

“There must be a way of capturing this data so that we can have an accurate number that will help us to stop fighting a battle we may have won or will never win,” she says.

Obi Nwogugu, head, Capital Alliance Property Investment Company (CAPIC), agrees, stressing that the Nigerian real estate market is opaque, because apart from the absence of dependable data, nobody, including those who may have, is ready to give out information.

At a media forum in Abuja recently, Akon Eyakenyi, minister for lands, housing and urban development, assured that the housing survey would address the concerns relating to the deficit.

“Work on the national housing survey is being undertaken by a ministerial committee under my chairmanship, with relevant stakeholders such as the National Population Commission (NPC), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), National Planning Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as members,” Eyakenyi said.

According to her, in the short-term, a pilot study would be carried out in the Federal Capital Territory, representing the best housing case scenario, and another state which would symbolise the worst housing case scenario, hoping that this would show the magnitude of the deficit in the country.