Nigeria needs 700,000 housing units a year to make progress on a deficit of 28 million. That is the benchmark, and it makes every other figure in Nigerian housing policy look small.
The number came from Samuel Durojaiye, Chairman of Gateway Mortgage Bank, at the bank’s ninth Annual General Meeting in Abeokuta on Friday.
The benchmark, and what it implies
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Housing deficit (government estimate) | 28 million units |
| Delivery needed | 700,000 units a year |
| Years to clear the deficit at that rate | 40 years |
| Units delivered in 10 years at that rate | 7 million – a quarter of the deficit |
Those last two rows are the ones worth sitting with. His own prescription takes four decades to close the gap, and ten years of it covers only 25%.
The deficit is not a number that a programme solves. It is a number that a generation solves, if it starts now and does not stop.
Put it against what is actually planned
This is where the benchmark earns its place, because it lets us measure every other promise on the record:
| Delivery source | Units a year | Short of 700,000 by |
|---|---|---|
| FMBN policy target, 2026 | 2,000 | 350 times |
| FMBN policy target, 2028 | 5,000 | 140 times |
| Lagos delivery record, 18,000 in 8 years | 2,250 | 311 times |
Those are the government’s own figures, reported on this site in recent weeks. The gap is not a matter of degree. It is two orders of magnitude.
To be fair to the institutions: 2,000 mortgages and 2,000 houses are not the same thing, and a policy target is not a delivery forecast. But even on the most generous reading, the national programme as currently specified builds a rounding error against the requirement.
The one thing that could move it
Durojaiye identified the constraint precisely: the high interest rate environment has remained a major obstacle to mortgage lending and to creating new mortgage assets.
He named the two interventions designed to work around it: the Ministry of Finance Real Estate Investment Fund (MREIF) and the Federal Mortgage Bank’s National Housing Fund mortgage loan at 6% per annum, both offered at single-digit rates.
This is the same calculation we ran on the Lagos mortgage promise this week, and it comes out the same way. At 6%, a ₦36 million loan over 25 years costs about ₦232,000 a month. At 32%, the same loan costs ₦960,000. Nothing else on the policy table moves affordability by that much.
Which means the interventions he cites are not a side policy. They are the only part of the current framework that addresses the binding constraint.
MREIF, specifically
It is worth spelling out what MREIF actually offers, because it is the least understood of the two.
MREIF is available to eligible buyers as a mortgage of up to 20 years at a fixed rate of 9.75% a year, according to the fund’s own published terms.
On a ₦36 million loan, the difference between that and the market rate is stark:
| Rate and term | Monthly repayment on ₦36m |
|---|---|
| 9.75% fixed over 20 years (MREIF) | ₦341,466 |
| 32% over 25 years (market) | ₦960,358 |
Both are calculated from the stated rate and term. The intervention product costs about a third of the market-rate loan for the same money.
The arithmetic of a fixed rate is the point. Nigerian buyers have spent a decade watching rates move against them. A fixed 9.75% for 20 years is a fundamentally different product from a variable loan at 27–32%, even though the difference looks like a few percentage points on a page.
Readers interested in it should check eligibility directly rather than rely on any summary, including this one – the qualifying conditions, loan limits and current availability are set by the fund and its partner mortgage banks, and they change.
What a buyer should take from it
The scheme you can actually access matters more than the national target. Nigeria will not build 700,000 units next year. But an individual buyer may still qualify for a single-digit mortgage, and that is worth more to them than the macro picture.
Ask your bank about MREIF and the NHF, by name. Most mortgage desks discuss market-rate products first, because that is what they sell. The intervention funds exist and are under-used by borrowers who do not know to ask.
Check whether the rate is fixed and for how long. The difference between a fixed 20-year rate and a rate that resets after two years is the difference between affordability and a trap.
Do not plan around a deficit figure. Whether it is 15 million or 28 million, neither number changes what you can borrow this year. The rate, your income and the payment schedule do.
The number that disagrees
Durojaiye uses the government’s 28 million estimate. On Thursday, the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors put the deficit at nearly 15 million.
As we noted then, “effective deficit” counts households that cannot afford formal housing as well as those without shelter, which is why it runs higher than a raw shortfall. Both figures are in circulation, and a reader should know which one they are being given.
What is not established
The 700,000-unit figure and the 28 million deficit are Durojaiye’s, presented at his bank’s AGM. No methodology, source year or calculation is given in the report.
No delivery data was published for Gateway Mortgage Bank itself – how many mortgages it wrote in the financial year ended 31 December 2025, or their value.
The report gives no figures for MREIF or NHF disbursements, no share of the mortgage market they represent, and no indication of how many Nigerians have accessed either.
The claim that these funds are extended at single-digit rates is the Chairman’s description; the current terms should be confirmed with the lender or the fund before anyone acts on them.
Frequently asked questions
How many houses does Nigeria need to build a year?
At least 700,000 units a year, according to the Chairman of Gateway Mortgage Bank, to make meaningful progress on a 28 million-unit deficit.
How long would that take?
Forty years to clear the deficit at that rate. Ten years at 700,000 a year delivers about 7 million units – a quarter of it.
What interest rate can I get through government schemes?
The National Housing Fund mortgage is at 6% per annum. MREIF offers up to 20 years at a fixed 9.75%, according to its published terms. Confirm current eligibility with the lender.
Why does the 28 million figure differ from the 15 million I have read?
Different measures. The higher figure is an “effective” deficit, which includes households that cannot afford formal housing, not only those without shelter.
Last updated: 14 November 2026. The 700,000 units a year, the 28 million-unit deficit, the 6% NHF rate, the MREIF and intervention fund references, the high interest rate environment and all quotations are from Punch’s report of 14 November 2026, covering Gateway Mortgage Bank Chairman Samuel Durojaiye at the bank’s ninth AGM in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Friday 13 November 2026, presenting results for the year ended 31 December 2025. The MREIF 20-year fixed 9.75% terms are from the fund’s own published page at arm.com.ng/mreif-about-mreif. The FMBN 2,000 and 5,000 unit targets are from our report of 4 November 2026; the Lagos 18,000-unit, eight-year record from our report of 11 November 2026; the NIQS 15 million figure from our report of 13 November 2026. All shortfall multiples are arithmetic on those stated figures.
