THE ASO VILLA FACT SHEET: PRESIDENT TINUBU’S HOUSING REFORMS ARE MOVING MORE NIGERIANS FROM RENTING TO HOME OWNERSHIP

EXPANDING HOME OWNERSHIP ACROSS NIGERIA: President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is widening access to long-term housing finance through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated Real Estate Investment Fund (MREIF). The Fund has now disbursed ₦140 billion through 21 financial institutions to create 2,018 mortgages across 27 states. In June 2026 the figures stood at ₦128 billion, 1,859 families and 25 states.

– MREIF was created under President Tinubu to tackle the shortage of affordable, long-term mortgage finance that has kept home ownership out of reach for most working Nigerians.
– Beneficiaries are spread across all six geopolitical zones. Formal mortgage lending, long concentrated in Lagos and Abuja, now reaches families in 27 states.
– Since March 2025, MREIF has grown into a nationwide housing finance platform that works through existing banks and mortgage institutions. No new government mortgage bureaucracy was created.
– The Fund is open to eligible Nigerians nationwide and finances completed residential properties for owner occupation.

MAKING LONG-TERM MORTGAGES MORE AFFORDABLE: For close to six decades, Nigeria lacked a mortgage market able to supply affordable, long-term housing finance at scale. MREIF supplies concessionary long-term capital to participating financial institutions, which lets them lend on terms far more accessible than conventional market financing.

– MREIF mortgages carry a fixed interest rate of 9.75 per cent per annum for repayment periods of up to 20 years.
– The fixed rate gives borrowers certainty over their repayments for the life of the loan.
– The minimum equity contribution has been cut from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, lowering the initial cash barrier for prospective homeowners.
– Contributors to the Contributory Pension Scheme may draw on their Retirement Savings Accounts toward the equity contribution, subject to pension regulations.
– Eligible properties are completed single-family homes and apartments intended for owner occupation. The programme does not finance undeveloped land.
– Borrowers undergo credit assessment, property valuation, legal title verification and other underwriting checks. Mortgage assets must meet the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company’s Uniform Underwriting Standards.

USING GOVERNMENT CAPITAL TO MOBILISE A LARGER HOUSING MARKET: The President’s housing finance model uses Federal Government capital as a catalyst for much larger pools of private and institutional investment. Housing finance is treated as a market to be built, with public money as the anchor.

– MREIF has a ₦1 trillion programme size and operates as a Securities and Exchange Commission registered and regulated investment fund.
– Its initial phase comprises ₦250 billion in concessionary and commercial funding.
– The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, seeded the Fund with ₦150 billion.
– A ₦100 billion Series 2 commercial issuance was then opened to private and institutional investors, taking the initial programme to ₦250 billion.
– The Fund is structured to draw institutional investors, including Pension Fund Administrators, into long-duration housing finance and deepen the domestic mortgage funding market.
– Public capital anchors the structure. Private investment builds on it.

COMBINING PUBLIC PURPOSE WITH PROFESSIONAL PRIVATE-SECTOR MANAGEMENT: MREIF has a clear division of responsibilities between government sponsorship, professional fund management, financial institutions and independent market infrastructure.

– The Fund is sponsored by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), the investment arm of the Federal Government.
– ARM Investment Managers Limited is Fund Manager and oversees the investment and deployment of capital.
– The Fund is a closed-end real estate investment fund established as a unit trust scheme under Securities and Exchange Commission rules.
– STL Trustees is Trustee and First Nominees is Fund Custodian, adding governance and asset-safeguarding layers.
– The ₦100 billion Series 2 commercial issuance received a AAA rating from Agusto & Co., the agency’s highest, and an AA rating from GCR Ratings. Both are independent assessments of the Fund’s structure and credit quality.

WORKING THROUGH NIGERIA’S EXISTING FINANCIAL SYSTEM: MREIF is built to strengthen Nigeria’s banks and mortgage institutions.

– The Fund operates through 21 financial institutions, which originate qualifying mortgages using long-term capital supplied through the programme.
– Those institutions keep responsibility for borrower assessment, credit decisions, documentation and mortgage servicing. MREIF supplies the long-duration capital they lacked.
– With concessionary funding in hand, Eligible Financial Institutions can originate more mortgages. The Federal Government administers no individual home loans.
– The intervention sits inside Nigeria’s financial system and strengthens the mortgage market over time.

SUPPORTING HOMEBUYERS AND NEW HOUSING SUPPLY AT THE SAME TIME: MREIF finances demand by helping Nigerians buy homes. It also supports supply by helping credible developers secure construction finance.

– Beyond mortgage financing, MREIF provides conditional offtake guarantees to qualified real estate developers.
– The guarantees give developers confidence that qualifying completed homes will find mortgage-backed buyers, which improves the bankability of projects and helps developers raise construction financing.
– By June 2026, MREIF had unlocked ₦221 billion in total property value and supported 475 housing units through offtake-guarantee projects, in addition to the mortgages delivered.
– Developers must show a qualifying land bank and net asset value, the ability to raise project finance and a record of completed developments.
– Expanding mortgage finance without adding housing supply would leave the problem half solved.

TURNING COMPLETED HOMES INTO ACTUAL HOME OWNERSHIP: President Tinubu has placed access to finance at the centre of the administration’s housing strategy because building houses alone does not put working Nigerians in them.

In June 2026, the President noted that many Nigerians who could sustain regular housing payments had been unable to access the long-term financing needed to buy a home. He described affordable mortgage finance as the link that converts completed housing units into home ownership.

The Fund’s performance since then bears him out. Between June and the latest reporting period:

Mortgage financing has grown from ₦128 billion to ₦140 billion.

The number of mortgages has grown from 1,859 to 2,018.

Coverage has grown from 25 to 27 states.

Each of those numbers is a family converting monthly housing expenditure into ownership of a lasting asset.

HELPING MORE NIGERIANS BUILD WEALTH THROUGH ASSET OWNERSHIP: The administration’s objective goes beyond shelter. Home ownership gives Nigerian households a way to accumulate assets and pass wealth on to the next generation.

President Tinubu said in June that MREIF’s progress showed the right combination of policy, institutions and partnerships could expand access to home ownership and let more Nigerians build wealth through what they own.

The average MREIF beneficiary was 42 years old at the June reporting point. Demand is strongest among working-age Nigerians, the group that has historically found long-term mortgage finance hardest to obtain.

BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE MORTGAGE MARKET: MREIF is a long-term market intervention. Its ₦1 trillion programme, public-private capital structure, professional fund management and use of existing financial institutions are designed to establish a durable source of mortgage liquidity that keeps attracting institutional capital.

The demand side works as a chain:

Federal Government catalytic capital → MOFI sponsorship → ARM professional fund management → institutional and private investment → participating financial institutions → affordable long-term mortgages → qualified homebuyers.

The supply side:

MREIF capital → conditional developer offtake guarantees → improved access to construction finance → additional housing supply → mortgage-backed buyers.

The Fund addresses financing constraints along the whole housing value chain.

ADVANCING THE RENEWED HOPE HOUSING AGENDA: MREIF is one component of President Tinubu’s broader housing programme and works alongside the Renewed Hope Cities and Estates Programme and the housing finance and social housing interventions of Family Homes Funds Limited.

Together, these interventions increase the supply of homes, improve access to finance, support social housing and build a working mortgage market that connects available housing with the Nigerians who need it.

MREIF’s growth from 1,859 mortgages across 25 states in June to 2,018 mortgages across 27 states, with ₦140 billion now deployed through 21 financial institutions, is measurable evidence that the housing finance leg of that strategy is gaining scale.

FROM RENTING TO HOME OWNERSHIP

For most Nigerians the housing problem was never a shortage of houses. It was the absence of financing that lets a working family turn years of regular payments into ownership.

President Tinubu’s housing finance reforms are changing that.

Through MREIF, the Federal Government has provided the catalytic capital. MOFI sponsors and oversees. ARM Investment Managers manages the Fund. Private and institutional investors add capital. Banks and mortgage institutions originate the loans. Developers get support to build. Eligible Nigerians get long-term financing to own their homes.

The latest result: ₦140 billion deployed, 2,018 mortgages, 21 participating financial institutions and 27 states reached.

The objective is a housing finance market that moves more Nigerians from renting to owning, and lets more families build lasting wealth through property.

PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE OF DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT AND STRATEGY

AUGUST 28, 2026