Nigeria's housing deficit reached 28M units, while mortgage rates are up to 32% per annum

Nigeria is experiencing one of the most massive housing crises on the planet - the housing shortage in this African country amounts to 28 million units, stated Ahmed Baba, Technical Advisor to the Managing Director of Family Homes Funds Limited, at a panel session within the framework of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku, Report informs.

As Baba noted, the scale of this problem can hardly be overstated. "If we translate these figures into the number of people, we are talking about over one hundred million people deprived of decent housing - a number comparable to the combined total population of South Africa and Ghana. The situation is exacerbated by the extremely weak development of the mortgage sector: its share of the country's gross domestic product does not exceed 1%, and housing loan rates range from 20 to 32% per annum, which effectively deprives the vast majority of Nigerians of the opportunity to purchase housing," the advisor emphasized.

According to UN-Habitat data for 2026, approximately 3.4 billion people worldwide are forced to live in inadequate housing conditions, with over 70% of them in Global South countries, and the majority concentrated on the African continent.

"Nigeria represents one of the most striking examples of this global trend," Baba added.