Mixta Africa has called for Nigeria’s proposed housing reforms to include a credible construction finance framework, warning that improved regulation and access to mortgage finance alone would not address the country’s housing deficit.
The Group Chief Commercial Officer of Mixta Africa, Adetola Akinsulire, made the call while speaking on CNBC Africa’s Closing Bell West Africa, where he identified construction finance, buyer finance, and trust as three critical areas that must be addressed to improve housing delivery.
He said the proposed National Housing and Built Environment Regulation Policy and National Mortgage Industry Policy addressed two of the sector’s major challenges but left construction finance largely unresolved.
“All of these components address two core areas: the trust deficit in the industry and buyer finance. There is still one leg missing, and that is construction finance,” he said.
The proposed reforms follow the Federal Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s disclosure that the real estate and construction sectors contributed more than N77 trillion to Nigeria’s economy in 2025, despite the absence of a unified regulatory framework.
The measures include developer registration, escrow protection, land value management, construction quality standards, urban renewal and the establishment of a National Housing Data Observatory.
They also include proposals for a Housing Finance Authority and a structured diaspora investment window.
Akinsulire said the success of the reforms should be measured by their ability to build confidence in the housing market, improve access to financing for homebuyers and expand funding for developers to construct more houses.
On the proposed National Housing Data Observatory, he welcomed the initiative, saying it could improve transparency and provide better market intelligence.
However, he cautioned that access to reliable housing data would not automatically translate into increased housing supply without adequate funding.
“Data does not provide funding to supply homes,” he said.
The Mixta Africa executive also called for a broader understanding of housing affordability, arguing that the cost of a property should be considered alongside the period available to buyers to pay for it.
“Affordability is not just the price of the home. It’s the duration it takes for people to pay for it. A N60 million home is unaffordable if you have to pay for it in two years. But give someone the option to pay for that same property over 30 years, and it becomes affordable,” he said.
Nigeria’s mortgage-to-GDP ratio remains between 0.02 and 0.07 per cent, compared with approximately 30 per cent in South Africa and 70 per cent in the United Kingdom, highlighting the limited penetration of mortgage financing in the country.
Akinsulire disclosed that Mixta Africa was developing starter homes targeted at the mass market as part of efforts to improve access to affordable housing.
He also identified the proposed diaspora investment window as one of the potentially quickest opportunities for the government to mobilise housing finance, citing existing demand among Nigerians living abroad and their familiarity with structured mortgage and property-financing products.
The executive further called for escrow funds to be released only after independent verification of construction milestones, stressing that buyer protection measures must be supported by sustainable financing for developers.
He said combining effective regulation, stronger buyer protection, and access to construction finance would help credible developers deliver housing at scale.
