By Providence Ayanfeoluwa

One of the biggest challenges confronting housing sector in Nigeria is data, which is why government must come up with policies that would enhance equitable housing distribution, said housing experts.

The experts including: Chief Executive of Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company, Mr. Kehinde Ogundimu; Managing Director/ Chief Executive of Afriland Properties Plc, Mrs. Uzoamaka Oshogwe, spoke at the Knight Frank Lagos Property Conference themed: “Pragmatic Solution for Housing Delivery: Charting the Roadmap.”

Ogundimu said: “One of the biggest challenges confronting housing in Nigeria is that of data and we are working on how to come up with a platform that will make data available for users in the real estate industry. Currently, we are working with government agencies on data initiative because we believe that data is critical to this sector and collaboration is also important to that effect.”

Oshogwe who said that Nigeria does not give priority to data, added that it is imperative for government to come up with policies to decide who qualifies for affordable home and who qualifies for social housing. 

She said these are the kind of things government need to take into cognisance so that housing units would not be going to the wrong people: “government has to ensure it is enshrined in the constitution that housing is the right of every citizen because house is not a luxury but a necessity.”

Earlier, Senior Partner/Chief Executive of Knight Frank Nigeria, Frank Okosun, said that the conference was tailored towards the all time high housing delivery costs and financing option which seems to shrink in spite of having one of the highest housing deficits globally. 

Okosun said: “Irrespective of the harsh economic times, those of us operating in the built environment must still find a way to deliver homes to Nigerians.” 

Meanwhile, in his keynote, Chief Executive, Social Housing and Mortgage Finance Fund, SHMFF Egypt, Mrs. May Abdel Hamid, stated that to achieve social justice, government must ensure that housing subsidy reaches the real needy people, adding that, taking several income assessment validation tools will help in achieving that.

According to her, “Egyptian population reached 105 million till August 2023. Urban residents represent 42.9 percent of Egyptian population, while rural residents represent 57.1 percent. Annual demand for housing is 500,000 units. Real estate stock is 43 million units in Egypt. 19.2 percent average family spending on housing of the monthly income.”