High Building Materials Costs Frustrate Affordable Housing Delivery As Stakeholders Set Agenda For 2025

The year 2024 has come and gone but it was a challenging one for Nigeria’s housing sector despite efforts to implement new policies and strategies. Also, the lack of adequate finance and insufficient regulatory frameworks appeared to be a hindrance to the country’s ability to meet its housing needs.

According to the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), the country had a housing unit shortfall of over 20 million housing units in 2024.

Also, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reveals that inflation in the building materials sector rose by 12 per cent in 2024, driven by supply chain disruptions, foreign exchange volatility, and the high cost of cement and other key materials.

However, in 2025, experts have called for a fundamental shift in the sector, emphasizing the need for consumer-centered housing development and greater government intervention to stimulate affordable housing.

Speaking with THE WHISTLER, the CEO of Sigvent Property Trust Limited, Mr Benjamin Onigbinde, said little success was recorded in the housing sector in 2024 despite policy efforts by the Federal Government

He said the introduction of the Renewed Hope Housing Strategy under the current administration mirrored previous initiatives like the Shehu Shagari Administration’s housing program, which delivered little real change.

Onigbinde, who noted that housing delivery in 2024 was likely lower than in previous years, although reliable data was unavailable, identified limited access to housing finance and weak regulatory frameworks as some of the challenges that threatened the sector’s performance in 2024.

These challenges, he argued, have contributed to the continued collapse of buildings, widespread fraud, and the lack of consumer protection in the real estate market.

“There wasn’t any significant change in housing sector performance in the year 2024, what we had was policy adjustment and the establishment of a stakeholders committee which has not been different from practice over the years.

“The establishment of the Renewed Hope housing strategy is not different from the housing programme of the Shehu Sagari Administration. Housing delivery in the year under consideration, although I don’t have a reliable figure, I believe is much lower than in previous years.

On his part, the Executive Director of the Housing Development Advocacy Network (HDAN), Festus Adebayo, said one of the significant challenges facing Nigeria’s housing sector is the skyrocketing cost of building materials.

According to him, cement prices, for instance, reached an all-time high of N9,500 per bag in 2024, which has placed immense pressure on builders and developers.

Adebayo said: “Luckily, we have a working minister running around to deliver houses. But, to the best of my knowledge, there are some constraints.

“One of the constraints is the economic situation. The cost of cement, which is now N9,500, makes price of building higher. How will we be talking about affordable housing under this kind of situation?”

Setting the agenda for the sector in 2025, Onigbinde advocated a shift in the approach to housing development, saying that housing development should prioritize consumer needs rather than impose uniform designs on buyers.

The shift, he argued, would make housing more affordable and reduce the number of unfinished estate projects, which currently contribute to high levels of dead capital in the real estate industry.

He also called for stricter regulation of the real estate industry to address the problem of free market entry, which has led to unregulated developments and housing fraud. He pointed to Lagos State’s Real Estate Regulation Agency as a model for national regulation.

“In 2025, the first agenda for proper regulation in the industry is free market entry to the housing industry which is having an unfavourable effect on the market. Some states like Lagos are taking landmark steps in this direction through the Lagos State Real Estate Regulation Agency. We look forward to such development at the national level.

“It is also essential that the market approach to housing development should shift to customization, the estate development should shift to consumer requirements, what does the buyer want?

“A situation whereby housing design is imposed on the customers not only makes the estate more expensive and unaffordable, but also leads to massive unfinished estate projects as well as a high level of dead capital in the industry.
“The year 2025 is expected to experience more influx of entrants which may change the way real estate business is moving, many more innovations will be introduced which will push traditional industry players to the background’’, he said.

Adebayo urged the government to create an enabling environment for affordable housing development and suggested that tax reforms could provide much-needed relief for developers willing to build social and low-cost housing.

He stated that the private sector can play a critical role in housing development, and urged the government to take a more proactive approach to delivering affordable housing.

Adebayo also recalled the success of past initiatives, such as the provision of free land and infrastructure development under former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai, which spurred the development of areas like Lokogoma and Sun City in Abuja.

He said, “The only way is for the government to come up with an enabling environment. We are talking about new tax reforms.

“These are just a way to motivate people to build houses that are affordable. There was a time in the FCT when the minister called El Rufai came with free land. And by that time, we saw the development of Lokogoma.

“The Sun City, the Sunnyvale area, is the same area that we are talking about today. Also, if you go to some areas, we see the infrastructure of El Rufai as he was building roads just for people to start building their houses.

“So, the economy is not encouraging the private sector, even the government sector, to deliver affordable housing. The only way to deliver affordable housing is for the government to come up with incentives. The houses we are seeing are not the houses we need. The houses we are seeing are for those people who already have one or two.

“So, we are using this affordable housing hall of fame to call on the president to look into what we can do to help the poor workers. There’s no better time Nigerian workers can be helped than now.”

High Building Materials Costs Frustrate Affordable Housing Delivery As Stakeholders Set Agenda For 2025 is first published on The Whistler Newspaper