10,000 first timers, young people, to own houses in FG’s new scheme

You can own one of the 10,000 low cost houses being set aside in mortgage by the Federal Government under its newly launched Nigerian Housing Finance Programme.

The Government during the week launched the first 10,000 mortgages first time home buyers, especially young people.

During the launching, Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said the initiative would eliminate problems faced by Nigerians in accessing mortgage services in banks.

“We try to keep it low to address our first time buyers and above all our young people; essentially what we have done is to develop an online portal especially for this scheme”She said.

She gave the address of the portal as www.housingfinance.gov.ng, and urged interested applicants to access the portal from Monday August 4, 2014.

Her words:“During the launch of the Nigeria Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) in January, Mr. President made the pledge to provide affordable housing by the end of the second quarter of the year. This is so that Nigerians will be able to apply for mortgages in large numbers; we are here to implement his vision and dream. The launch today is the actualisation of this promise to move on the road to affordable housing finance for Nigerians,’’ she said.

“The NMRC provides greater access for financing of tenures from 15 to 20 years, instead of people buying houses and paying up in either, 12, 24 or 36 months, it is changed,’’ she said.

According to her, first time home buyers, especially young people, are the primary target and they can buy houses between N2 million and N20 million.

Upon completion of the form, the processing time for prequalification would be three to six weeks as against the six to nine months it used to be.

According to her, the ministry has received support from some states governments through the provision of land documents for the provision of the housing units.

According to a Ministry of Finance spokesperson, “The scheme is a private sector driven, Federal Government initiative, with strong support from the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company and Primary Mortgage Lenders (PMLs). It is being implemented in partnership with 15 pilot states and the Central Bank of Nigeria, and backed by development partners including the World Bank, the African Development Bank, DFID”