Regardless of the high interest rates and inflation, the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) has financed a total of N8.2billion mortgages in 2016 from N1.8billion in 2015.
According to the article originally published on The Guardian, the company has also recorded significant growth during the 2016 financial year, with profit before tax increasing by 164 per cent from N487 million in 2015 to N1.28 billion. The commercial and mortgage banks that benefitted from the mortgage refinancing loans are Imperial Homes, N1.7 billion; Trustbond Mortgage Bank, N778million; Sun Trust Mortgage Bank, N1.3 billion; Homebase Mortgage Bank, N731 million; Stanbic IBTC, N1.8 billion; Sterling Bank, N1.6 billion; Abbey Mortgage Bank, N21.9million and Infinity Trust, N101.7million.
The company’s chairman, Dr. Charles Okealaham, who made this known at the third annual general meeting in Lagos, said that NMRC is optimistic about the global economic environment and confident that the measures being implemented by the government will reverse the decline in growth and output and usher in an era of economic recovery.
He said that the company is adhering to its long -term strategy of putting structures in place that will make homeownership a reality for Nigerians. Okealaham foresee better days ahead for the sector. “We’re entering a period of falling inflation and interest rates, should these projections come to pass, out industry and indeed our company stand to benefit immensely,” he said.
NMRC Managing Director, Prof. Charles Inyangete disclosed that the company has opened discussions with multilateral agencies willing to provide credit enhancements products to support bond issuance for mortgage lending to the informal sector, which will create more market opportunities for financial inclusion, and capital market deepening.
According to him, the prevailing high interest and inflation rates continue to pose an affordability challenge for home acquisition through mortgages from conventional banking products, the company plans to issue first Suzuki bond this year to attract non-interest mortgages. The product would drive down interest rate burden on mortgage beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, NMRC has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Alpha Mead Development Company (AMDC) and Ogun State Property Investment Corporation (OPIC) to improve access to quality affordable homes and deepen Nigeria’s mortgage market.
Speaking during the signing ceremony in Abuja, Inyangete, described the MoU as a remarkable move; saying that NMRC decided to work with Alpha Mead because of its innovative and technology-driven approach to increase affordable housing stock in the country.
The Group Managing Director, Alpha Mead, Femi Akintunde, an engineer, expressed delight at the partnership. He described the partnership is a serious demonstration of NMRC’s commitment to reduce the nation’s increasing housing deficit; and an encouraging recognition of Alpha Mead’s innovative approach to delivering quality and affordable housing to Nigerians.
“It is increasingly becoming obvious that the conventional building methods cannot bridge Nigerian housing gap, especially in the face of the myriad of challenges that face the affordable housing value chain”.
“So what we bring to the market are the possibilities of addressing the challenges of affordability and quality; which are two critical issues that are inhibiting the nation’s affordable housing market”.
The agreement with OPIC and Imperial Homes, TrustBond and Homebase mortgage banks was to encourage the development of housing. Their aim is to provide liquidity and empower the three mortgage banks to give more long-term mortgage loans to potential house owners in the Ogun and Lagos environs.
OPIC Managing Director, Babajide Odusolu said that the deal holds great promise for the achievement of the corporation’s plans to achieve the target of being the dominant provider of quality and affordable housing.
