NMRC partners GIZ to deepen affordable housing

The Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company Plc (NMRC) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH have entered into an agreement for joint activities in the affordable housing value chain.

The strategic collaboration between GIZ-SEDIN and NMRC is in furtherance of the efforts of the Federal Government of Nigeria to resolve the housing crisis in Nigeria, through collaboration with the World Bank and International cooperation institutions like GIZ. The agreement was signed between NMRC Managing Director, Mr. Kehinde Ogundimu and GIZ Cluster Coordinator for Sustainable Economic Development, Hans Ludwig Bruns on the side-lines of the 13th Abuja International Housing Show under the strategic mandate will deepen the affordable housing segment in Nigeria.

GIZ-SEDIN and NMRC’s collaboration will also facilitate housing development and growth by obtaining credible data from the participating states. The data component of the collaboration will help to identify gaps, specific constraints and analyse needs in affordable housing demand and supply that forms the basis for an agreed upon viable-partnership-driven-roadmap.

The parties will jointly explore and coordinate training and capacity building activities of mutual interest, which will be implemented by separate agreements in mutual understanding and in conformity with the regulations and policies of both parties.

Ogundimu said during the signing ceremony that the collaboration with GIZ would be focused on synergistically using both institutions capacities and expertise to bring about access to finance while also driving the creation of an economy around affordable housing in target locations across Nigeria. He noted that the engagement also falls under the primary mandate of the NMRC to structurally address the current challenges with regards to financial innovations required to develop affordable housing in Nigeria from a private sector perspective by acting as a conduit between the capital markets and housing markets.

Bruns in his remarks at the event also noted that GIZ and NMRC both recognise the great potential to join forces and leverage synergies for the benefit of the affordable housing sector in the GIZ-SEDIN focal states: Ogun, Plateau and Niger states.

Nigeria’s housing market consists of two major divides that continue to influence the dynamics of demand and supply as well as affordability. The premium end is oversupplied with few off-takers while the lower end, which is responsible for the growing deficit and housing demand is faced with an undersupply.

NMRC as the nation’s leading provider of mortgage refinance in collaboration with GIZ will seek to promote housing accessibility through financial innovation as well as foreclosure mechanisms that facilitate the creation of an enabling environment for mortgages and investments in the housing sector of the target states.