By Adaobi Rhema Oguejiofor
For millions of Nigerians, owning a home is becoming less of a realistic milestone and more of a distant dream. Property prices and rents are soaring, construction costs are rising, and household incomes are struggling to keep pace. The result is a widening affordability gap that is pushing homeownership beyond the reach of many families, while forcing others to spend an increasingly large share of their earnings on rent. Real estate developers, estate surveyors and investment professionals say that the problem goes far beyond the price tag attached to a house. Expensive land, construction materials, labour, infrastructure, finance, statutory charges and inefficient land administration are all feeding into the final cost of housing.
The President of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN), Oba Akintoye Adeoye, said residential property prices and rents were rising faster than the purchasing power of many Nigerians. According to him, the entire housing value chain must be examined, from land acquisition and construction to infrastructure, transportation, professional services, financing and regulatory charges. Adeoye stated that when the cost of producing a house increases, it inevitably impacts the price of the finished property. He also stressed that developers could not indefinitely absorb rising production costs without threatening the viability of housing projects. REDAN cautioned that rising costs should not become an excuse for arbitrary pricing or consumer exploitation. Instead, it argued that the priority should be to make housing cheaper to produce. This is particularly important given the scale of Nigeria’s housing challenge. A National Housing Data Technical Committee report released in January 2026 put the country’s 2025 housing deficit at 14.925 million units, although previous estimates have varied considerably depending on methodology. The problem is also one of quality. Government data released in December 2025 indicated that about 15.2 million housing units were structurally inadequate, underscoring the need not only to build new homes but also to upgrade existing housing and basic infrastructure.
A Fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV), Chief M.I. Okoro, said the rapid population growth, migration into cities, expensive land and inadequate housing supply were intensifying the crisis. He pointed to Lagos, where soaring land values in areas such as Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki Phase One have encouraged developers to build vertically, while increasing development costs. The pressure, he noted, does not stop in high-value neighbourhoods. As rents and property prices rise, residents are increasingly pushed towards less expensive areas and the outskirts of major cities.
Okoro described this as a “displacement factor”, arguing that the fundamental issue is simply that demand is growing faster than supply. He called for greater investment in social housing and stronger intervention by state and local governments, including the development of affordable housing schemes. In his words, “Social housing is not meant to be for profit motive. That is where the government comes in.” However, building more houses will not automatically make them affordable if prospective buyers cannot afford the financing required to purchase them. REDAN has therefore advocated long-term mortgage financing, rent-to-own arrangements, cooperative housing schemes and housing savings programmes that can allow Nigerians to spread the cost of homeownership over 15, 20 or even 30 years.
There are signs of movement on the financing front. The Ministry of Finance Incorporated Real Estate Investment Fund (MREIF) said in June 2026 that it had delivered N128 billion in mortgages to 1,859 families across 25 states at a fixed interest rate of 9.75 per cent, with loan tenures of up to 20 years. By August, the State House said the fund had increased disbursements to N140 billion, creating 2,018 mortgages across 27 states. Yet experts warn that cheaper mortgages alone cannot solve the problem if the cost of building homes remains high.
Chief Investment Officer of Panterra, Ayo Ibaru, described the affordability crisis as a chain reaction. Rising prices of cement, steel, finishing materials, labour, diesel and other inputs increase construction costs, while exchange-rate volatility adds further pressure on imported materials and equipment. Where market conditions allow, some of these costs are transferred to buyers and tenants through higher sale prices, rents and service charges. But household purchasing power limits how far developers can push prices, creating a difficult situation in which construction costs rise faster than what many Nigerians can afford. Ibaru stressed that housing must be affordable not only to build but also to finance and maintain. Land administration is another major pressure point. Difficulties with land titles, documentation and registration can add high costs and uncertainty to development, which eventually filters down to buyers and tenants. Ibaru also called for greater transparency in the property market, including stronger developer accreditation, clearer disclosure for off-plan projects, appropriate escrow arrangements and faster land registration.
For prospective buyers, REDAN urged greater due diligence, particularly verification of property titles and developers, before making substantial payments. But the housing crisis also has a geographical dimension. Okoro argued that the concentration of jobs, infrastructure and economic opportunities in major cities continues to fuel migration and increase housing pressure. He called for deliberate investment in smaller cities and rural communities, including better roads, electricity, water and telecommunications, to reduce the pressure driving people towards Lagos and other urban centres.
In the end, Nigeria’s housing affordability crisis is not the product of a single factor. It is the result of expensive land, high construction costs, limited supply, costly finance, weak purchasing power, infrastructure deficits and gaps in land administration and consumer protection. Until these pressures are tackled together, the dream of owning a decent home will remain financially out of reach for a substantial number of Nigerians.