Mortgage Institutions and Sustainable Affordable Housing Delivery in Nigeria: A Comparative Assessment Against Global Best Practices (Published)
Nigeria faces a severe and persistent affordable housing deficit, officially estimated at 14.925 million units as of 2025, exacerbated by low mortgage penetration and systemic inefficiencies within key institutions like the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN) and the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC). This study examined the effect of targeted mortgage institutional reforms on sustainable affordable housing delivery, benchmarking Nigerian practices against global standards. The primary objective was to assess the impact of regulatory, financial, operational, and risk-management reforms on housing affordability, accessibility, sustainability, and supply. Employing a descriptive survey design, the research targeted a population of 150 mortgage sector stakeholders. A sample of 100 respondents was selected using stratified random sampling, and data were collected via structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Analysis was performed using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) multiple regression. The findings revealed that all four reform dimensions positively influenced sustainable affordable housing delivery. Regulatory reform (β = 0.452, p < 0.001) and financial reform (β = 0.381, p < 0.001) were the strongest and most statistically significant predictors. Operational reform also showed a significant positive effect (β = 0.196, p = 0.014), while risk-management reform had a marginal influence (β = 0.138, p = 0.055). The model explained 58.9% of the variance in the outcome variable (R² = 0.589). In conclusion, integrated institutional reforms are crucial for strengthening Nigeria’s mortgage sector. The study recommends policy harmonization through the full implementation of the Model Mortgage & Foreclosure Law, the development of a secondary mortgage market with government guarantees to enhance liquidity, nationwide digitization of land and mortgage processes, and the adoption of innovative risk-sharing mechanisms to expand access for low- and middle-income households.
Keywords: Affordable Housing, Mortgage Institutions, Nigeria, institutional reforms, secondary mortgage market, sustainable housing delivery