The Federal Capital Territory chapter of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria has urged the federal government to provide stronger support and incentives to housing developers, saying Nigeria’s housing deficit had exceeded 20 million units against a population of more than 250 million people and that the gap could not be narrowed without deliberate policy action to lower construction costs and expand access to affordable land and financing.
REDAN FCT Vice Chairman Amos Gbadewole, speaking at the National Youth Entrepreneurship and Empowerment Program in Abuja, identified limited access to affordable land, inadequate financing for developers, a shortage of skilled building professionals, and escalating construction material costs as the primary structural barriers preventing the industry from expanding supply at the pace the housing deficit demanded.
He said government regulations and incentives designed to reduce the cost of building materials would have an immediate multiplier effect on housing affordability, noting that in a market economy the price of inputs directly determined the selling price of the finished product, and that without addressing input costs, developers could only do so much to moderate what they charged buyers.
Gbadewole expressed support for pending National Assembly legislation that would require real estate operators to obtain licenses before conducting business, describing it as a necessary step to distinguish genuine developers from fraudulent actors who had damaged buyer confidence and undermined the industry’s reputation. He said credible regulation would improve investor confidence and make more capital available to developers who met professional standards.
He encouraged young people at the conference to consider real estate as an entrepreneurial pathway, sharing that he had started his own enterprise with N156,000 saved during his national youth service year and had built a business that now managed more than 56 estates across Nigeria.
