July 25th, 2019, 11:00 am, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Nigeria.
In partnership with the African Union for Housing Finance (AUHF), the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc (“NMRC”) held a stakeholder breakfast session to promote advocacy in affordable housing finance. Many industry representatives from the Mortgage Banking Association attended the session, led by Mr.
Adeniyi Akinlusi who spoke on the progress and initiatives that are currently being driven in partnership with NMRC, Central Bank of Nigeria, Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS 2020) and other stakeholders to promote housing development and mortgage growth. These initiatives include the Model Foreclosure mechanism and various mortgage underwriting standards for the informal sector as well as mortgage literacy programmes.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between NMRC and CAHF, secretariat to the AUHF, to deepen and increase the knowledge and understanding of the housing finance markets in Africa, specifically Nigeria. According to CAHF’s Executive Director Kecia Rust, the collaboration will center on knowledge derived from country-level data on the housing finance sector in Africa and Nigeria. Increased quality and availability of data will advance public and private initiatives to increase access to housing finance, especially to the lower-and middle-income housing market, as well as improve the functioning of the Nigerian housing market.
Mr. Kehinde Ogundimu, Managing Director of the NMRC, noted that NMRC’s focus on market intelligence has led to the organisation to develop a Mortgage Market Information Portal (MMIP). The NMRC MMIP portal is a decision-making tool that supports the growth of affordable housing and housing finance markets in Nigeria.
The NMRC MMIP is currently the repository for the National Real Estate Data Collation program, making it a primal point of call for industry stakeholders seeking relevant and timely data on Nigeria’s housing sector.
As part of its market initiatives, NMRC also developed a Mortgage Market System to integrate the financing of the entire housing market, removing duplication in effort and streamlining mortgage approval processes. NMRC hopes that the system will bring credibility to Nigeria’s mortgage market, attracting investors and highlighting opportunities.
CAHF and NMRC will develop and improve the current data platforms and analytical frameworks to enable effective, data-driven policy and decision-making in support of affordable housing markets in Nigeria.
The strategic intent of the partnership between NMRC and CAHF is to promote effective, data-driven policy and decision-making in Nigeria’s housing market. NMRC and CAHF will share data and methodologies, and jointly commission research on the role of housing in the Nigerian economy (Housing Economic Model for Nigeria), including the functioning of Nigerian property markets and performance of Nigeria’s mortgage market. Both parties will also exchange data to support the mutual development of the NMRC Mortgage Market Information Portal and CAHF country dashboards to enable mortgage market analysis and ensure collaboration and technical exchange for housing sector participants in Nigeria.
