NMRC promises affordable housing, ahead of AU Housing Finance Conference

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC),  Charles Inyangete, has said that  the orgainsation is ready to refinance a one-bedroom apartment for citizens of Nigeria at a cost of N1.5 million each in any part of the country.

He made the pledge during a press briefing on the African Union Housing Finance Conference which begins in Abuja tomorrow. He disclosed that the NMRC is currently evaluating some 5,000 mortgages.

Inyangete said while the country had a huge housing deficit, the NMRC was conscious of the fact that through technology, the cost of owning a house in any part of the country could be reduced significantly.

The need to start making houses more affordable for Nigerians was born out of the conviction that by 2050, about 106 million citizens would be regarded as low-income earners, he said.

Inyangete said with the mandate given to the NMRC, which was incorporated in 2013, was to provide  liquidity to the housing market.

He disclosed that, “There are a lot of initiatives that have been planned by the government to address the problem of affordable housing in the country. The issue of affordable housing is being addressed from a holistic perspective. We are ready to refinance houses for Nigerians for as low as N1.5million and we hope that we can use technology to achieve that.

NMRC was incorporated on 24th June 2013 and obtained its final license to operate as a non-deposit taking financial institution from the Central Bank of Nigeria on 18th February 2015. The institution is regulated by the CBN under the Regulatory and Supervisory Framework for the operations of a Mortgage Refinance Company.

It is a Public Private Partnership between the Federal Government of Nigeria and the private sector. It was implemented as a component of the Nigeria Housing Finance Programme initiated by the Federal Ministry of Finance (“FMoF”) in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (“CBN”), Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing & Urban Development (“FMLHUD”) and the World Bank/ International Finance Corporation (“IFC”). NMRC is a private sector driven company with the public purpose of developing the primary and secondary mortgage markets by raising long-term funds from the capital market and thereby providing access to affordable housing finance in Nigeria.

The African Union Housing Finance Conference will be attended by over 170 participants from 23 countries.