Experts in the housing sector have expressed concern over Nigeria’s housing financing system, describing it as a major obstacle preventing estate developers and prospective homeowners from accessing affordable housing opportunities. They said the challenge has continued to hinder efforts to bridge the country’s housing deficit through innovative financing models and strategic partnerships between the public and private sectors.
Summit Highlights Critical Pillars
Speaking at the Renewed Hope Housing Public Private Partnership (PPP) Summit in Abuja, Elena Paranotis said Nigeria could build a sustainable and equitable economy with a strong middle class and minimal informality through effective public-private partnership housing models. According to her, three pillars are critical to achieving this goal: property rights, mortgage finance, and transparent regulation.
“If we maintain them properly, they will deliver equity, efficiency, less bias and less waste. Houses on broken registry systems do not create wealth,” she said. Paranotis noted that more than 70 percent of landlords in Nigeria reportedly lack formal title documentation, adding that the country’s estimated 15 million housing deficit should be viewed as an opportunity for transformative development.
“Fifteen million housing units’ deficit or inadequacy is an opportunity not to catch up, but to leap,” she added. She argued that policy designs often fail because they are created in conference rooms while reality is experienced within communities, stressing that informality remains a survival mechanism for many Nigerians. With Nigeria’s population growing at about 2.5 percent yearly, she said the government would need stronger collaboration with developers and financiers to deliver social housing schemes.
Government Commitment
Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Muttaqha Darma, said the government will ensure that housing delivery claims are practical and verifiable. “We have been made to understand that more than 15,000 housing units are now available nationwide for Nigerians to move into,” he said. According to him, the Federal Government expects more houses to become available for occupation within the next three months, potentially providing shelter for over 60,000 Nigerians based on an average household size of four persons.
“We are going to move from place to place and ensure that the houses are there and not just on paper while Nigerians are being told they are available,” he stated.
Challenges and Opportunities
President of the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Adele Adeniyi, described Nigeria’s housing deficit as both a challenge and an opportunity. “With an estimated 28 million-unit shortfall and rapid urbanisation, no single actor, government, private sector, or development finance institutions can solve this alone,” he said. Adeniyi noted that the Renewed Hope agenda should go beyond rhetoric and focus on structuring bankable projects, de-risking investments, and unlocking the estimated N21 trillion in pension, insurance, and institutional funds for affordable housing delivery.
“We must move from intentions to delivery and from promises to homes for citizens,” he added.
Financing and Trust Gaps
Also speaking, Emeka Inegbu of Family Homes Funds Limited (FHFL) said Nigeria has historically lacked structured financing mechanisms, bankable housing projects, and trusted partnerships capable of converting housing policies into completed developments. “The gap between aspiration and delivery is a financing gap, a structuring gap and, crucially, a trust gap between public institutions, private capital and the communities they are meant to serve,” he said.
According to him, public-private partnerships remain one of the most effective tools for addressing those gaps. He disclosed that Family Homes Funds currently manages a housing investment portfolio valued at about N100 billion across affordable housing, student housing development, and assisted homeownership initiatives.
Policy Reforms
Convener of the summit, Olayemi Rotimi-Shodimu, said the government had undertaken major policy, regulatory, and institutional reforms aimed at unlocking private capital, strengthening land administration, and improving the environment for large-scale housing delivery. “The summit seeks to move the housing conversation beyond strategy into sustained delivery, to translate policy clarity into investable projects and those projects into measurable impact for Nigerian cities and communities,” he said.
