The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc and the National Bureau of Statistics, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria and Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop a Mortgage Market Information Portal (MMIP) for Nigeria.
The MMIP is expected to be a technical platform that will provides the interface for easy access to real-time and live information on housing finance, property development and ownership in Nigeria, inclusive of details on residential home ownership and mortgage details for individuals, corporate entities and government at the federal and state levels.
The expansion and delivery of mortgage and mortgage refinancing is a major strategic thrust of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc (NMRC). To successfully drive that mandate there is need for a certified repository of empirical market data and information to guide and influence the company’s intervention in the mortgage subsector of the financial markets.
The Managing Director/CEO of NMRC, Professor Charles Inyangete stated that the planned set up of the MMIP and ongoing collaboration with NBS was a landmark achievement for the housing finance industry and for the nation. Professor Charles Inyangete added that “the information that would be made available through the portal would help resolve challenges that had hitherto hindered the flow of finance into Nigeria’s mortgage sector as the demand and supply for housing and finance are currently unmatched due to lack of data to necessitate the required level of investments.”
The National Bureau of Statistics, represented by the Statistician-General of the Federation, Dr. Yemi Kale commended NMRC for being the first to take the initiative of partnering with NBS to drive such a laudable initiative. Dr Kale stated that on the part of NBS, its “expertise will be sufficiently leveraged to provide data gathering and refinement, that will assist NMRC and other stakeholders carry out qualitative policy evaluation and impact assessment for decision-making and investment in the industry.”
It is expected that once the MMIP portal goes live it would form the reference point and become the market basis and index for the determination of home value, based on its proposed design and capability to provide information on property valuation, registration and foreclosure, in addition to data on title perfection, issuance cost, financing and housing penetration levels.
Data gathering and test run for the MMIP will cut across the six geopolitical zones of the country with a focus on twenty local government areas for structured sampling and planning. The exercise will help ascertain and measure social economic factors ranging from income levels, access to finance, availability of amenities and their overall impact on property valuation and ownership.
Contacts: Taofeek Olatinwo – tolatinwo@nmrc.com.ng
Chii Akporji – cakporji@nmrc.com.ng
