The Federal Government on Thursday said
it had in the last one month received 66,402 applications for the first
phase of its 10,000 mortgages under the Affordable Home Ownership
Scheme.
The project, to be
spearheaded by the newly established Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing
Company, will enable Nigerians to own their houses through mortgage
loans at low interest rates under a flexible payment package.
Findings
revealed that under the housing scheme, a unit of two-bedroom apartment
would be sold for between N7.5m and N10m, depending on the location;
while a three-bedroom house would be sold for N10m and above.
The
Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, while giving an update on
the implementation of the scheme in Abuja on Thursday, said since the
commencement of the programme on August 11, many people had expressed
interest in the project.
She said the
applications were spread across the 36 states of the federation and the
Federal Capital Territory, with 63 per cent of applicants being male.
Okonjo-Iweala
said, “As of Friday, September 5, 2014, the initial closing date of the
registration exercise, we had received 66,402 valid applications, with
more still calling. That is more than six times oversubscription to our
initial 10,000 pilot. We are extremely pleased with this outcome
“The
applications were spread across the 36 states, including the FCT.
Sixty-three per cent of applicants were male, while 37 per cent were
female.
“Eighty-nine per cent of
applicants applied for themselves – that is in their own names, even our
women. Everybody seems to want to own their homes.”
Of
the 66,402 people that applied, Okonjo-Iweala said 96 per cent of them
were currently living in rented accommodations, while 51 per cent of the
applicants preferred to live in Abuja and 18 per cent in Lagos.
“This
shows that almost 70 per cent of applicants want to live in the two
main urban areas and there is a strong belief in Nigeria showing that
Abuja is truly the centre of unity,” she added.
The
minister, who said only 11 per cent were joint applications (husband
and wife), also added that about 60 per cent of the applicants were in
the 31-40 year age bracket, and 15 per cent in the 21-30 year bracket.
Interestingly,
she said Nigerians showed that they preferred three-bedroom
flats/houses, with 62.7 per cent of the applicants signifying intention
to acquire this property type.
Okonjo-Iweala
added that 32 per cent of the applicants wanted two-bedroom flats,
while a small percentage applied for one-bedroom flats and one-bedroom
self-contained apartments.
In terms
of employment status of those seeking to own these properties, the
minister said that 92 per cent of the applicants were in stable
employment positions, while only eight per cent were self-employed.
When
asked what the government would do now that the first phase of the
housing scheme had been oversubscribed, she said, “Now, due to the over
subscription by six times, a decision has been taken to give all
applicants to the lending members of the NMRC to share on a pro-rata
basis.
“Lending members of the NMRC
are expected to have the refinancing window of up to 20 years. They will
sift through, then analyse and pre-qualify all applicants, culminating
in the amounts each lender is willing to advance to the applicant.
“This
lets the applicant know the value of property he/she can afford.
Lending members of the NMRC have promised to complete this exercise
within six to eight weeks from the receipt of the list.”
The
minister said owing to the importance that President Goodluck Jonathan
attached to the scheme; the first completed 10,000 mortgages would be
published in the media, while subsequent qualified applicants would be
notified.
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