Lagos, Friday November 25, 2016: The Lagos State Governor, HE Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode announced the state government is slashing the prices of its housing units under the Lagos Home Ownership Mortgage Scheme (LagosHoms) to give low and middle income earners to buy into the scheme.
Governor Ambode announced the review in prices while inspecting the Sir Michael Otedola Housing Estate in Odoragunshin, Epe and other ongoing construction within the axis.
He added that over 1, 000 additional housing units have been injected into the pool of housing units earlier provided by the state government. He explained that due to economic recession, his administration felt the need to review the housing policies, which is aimed at ensuring housing is affordable to Lagosians
Following the prices review, two-bedroom flat, which was N7.2 million has been reduced to N3.5 million, while the one bedroom which was 4.3 million naira has been reduced to N2.3 million. Also, the room and parlour unit has also been reduced to N1.5 million.
Elaborating on the Governor’s directive, the state Commissioner for Housing, Prince Gbolahan Lawal said the 1,000 housing units are ready for occupation by interested residents and that allocation will begin by December 9, 2016. Twenty per cent of the housing units in Epe are earmarked for rent as a ‘social Welfare policy’, the Commissioner added.
This bold move by the Lagos state government to upscale access to affordable home ownership reinforces NMRC’s strong engagement with the state. NMRC stands ready to refinance the mortgages to be created as a result of the scheme, with refinancing threshold as low as N1.5 million.
In a recent interview, the MD/CEO, NMRC, Prof. Charles Inyangete explained that, the NMRC is a critical aspect of really getting the mortgage to work in Nigeria. Our role as a secondary mortgage institution is to provide the liquidity that is needed by going to the capital market and raising funds, and making those funds available to our member banks for the refinancing of their mortgage portfolio
