The Minister of Housing and Urban Development, Arch. Ahmed Musa Dangiwa, has urged mortgage bankers and brokers to collaborate in expanding access to affordable housing loans for Nigerians.

Speaking at the 21st Mortgage Bankers and Brokers Conference in Abuja, Dangiwa outlined strategies to make housing loans more accessible to low- and middle-income earners.

Highlighting the disparity between commercial mortgage rates (28%) and the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria’s (FMBN) rates (6–7%), the minister called for innovative hybrid loan products to bridge the gap.

“This requires intuition, innovation, and sacrifice to ensure more Nigerians in low- and middle-income brackets can benefit,” he said.

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Dangiwa referenced the ongoing cross-subsidy initiative under the Renew Hope Cities Programme as an example of innovative financing.

The programme uses profits from units sold at commercial rates to subsidise housing for low- and middle-income earners.

He also pointed out regulatory challenges, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria’s single obligor limit, which restricts financial institutions from lending above a certain threshold to a single borrower.

The minister called for stakeholders to support the FMBN’s advocacy for removing this restriction to foster sector growth.

Dangiwa also highlighted the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) Real Estate Investment Fund as a promising initiative to attract capital market funds into the housing sector. “This aligns with our mission to deliver affordable housing,” he said.

The President of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria (MBAN), Ebilate Mac-Yoroki, emphasised the need for critical reforms and stronger public-private partnerships to close the housing affordability gap.