A real estate firm in Abuja, Big Homes, has said cost of lands takes more than 60 per cent of construction costs in the FCT, urging the federal government and mortgage banks to intervene in making homes affordable for Nigerians.
Speaking with Blueprint in Abuja, on the sideline of the commissioning of its new house, Ivy’s Court, in Mabushi, the Managing Director of Big Homes Limited, Mr Topsy Essien, advised the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, to consider giving lands repossessed from individuals to real estate agents to build affordable homes for Nigerians.
He said that if the government can bear the cost of lands alone, the issue of housing deficit will be solved, decrying a situation whereby individuals will be selling at exorbitant prices lands they acquired for free.
He said: “I’m a real estate developer, who’s really passionate about making homes affordable for Nigerians. This is the commissioning of one of our properties called Ivy’s Court. It’s a four bedroom terrace, semi detached house. As Nigerians, you can agree with me that we’ve always had issues with a place to stay in Abuja and other parts of Nigeria. That’s where the inspiration of my venturing into real estate came from.
“It was really tough. There was a day I came into Abuja and I didn’t even have a place to lay my head. I had to sleep in an uncompleted building. It happened several times and then I started having the inspiration of real estate. That’s where it started.
“Besides making some progress in life, I’d say we’ve made some progress in building affordable homes for Nigerians at Big Homes. I only wish I could do more, but so far we’ve made just simple steps. We’re making little progress, but we have a lot in store. I would say we’ve built roughly a hundred homes, but you know, it’s not just about numbers, it’s about good locations and quality.
“We’re not into massive projects like a hundred units in one project. So far, we’ve been able to deliver homes to a hundred families. We partner with a lot of people. We believe that there’s more opportunity in partnership when it comes to lands, vendors and advertising. Everything is partnership. Even the people selling their homes, you know, it’s all partnership. That’s what Big Homes is about. We’re a family. Like I always say, family of partners.
“Mortgage banks can be of great help in helping Nigerians to own homes. The amount an average person should be able to take should be enough to cover a home. You don’t want to give someone money that he can’t even buy a home with it, you know. So, let it be tangible. The government can find a way of subsidising homes too.
“They can actually subsidise homes, just like you subsidise for every other thing. So, why can’t they give us lands for free, then we will know that the land cost is taken out? All we need to do is to use the land to build many houses in Abuja. People are racketeering, taking lands for themselves. Why don’t we use the lands to help people? That’s what I always say.”
He added: “You know, there’s a lot going on when it comes to infrastructure and I must really commend the FCT Minister, Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike. There’s a lot also going on, so we hope that some of these lands repossessed from individuals should be given to companies that are already in partnership or in agreement with the government to provide affordable homes.
“The government can state the kind of houses they want the companies to build. These lands that they are allocating here and there, they don’t give them to people that are doing the real estate business.
“Government should go into some locations that they don’t have a lot of developments and build infrastructure. Allocate those lands, do PPP. Tell Big Homes and other companies, ‘guys, we will give you this land. It’s is worth N500 million, we will bear that cost. All you need to do is build only the homes.’ 60% of the cost of building is the land. So, if you’ve taken out 60% of the cost, then what is remaining is cost of blocks, plastering and little things.
“If government can bear just the land cost, trust me, we can build these homes. What you’re seeing right now, you can get it for 50 million naira as at today. So, if you take away land cost and stop racketeering hundreds of hectares to somebody else, it will be lesser.
“Imagine, somebody gets 20 hectares for free and sells parts to us for 2 billion each. But if government can take that land and give it to developers like us to just build, we can deliver affordable homes. We can build, we can design something that will be affordable to build in some locations. We can build bungalows for 15 million Naira. With the involvement of mortgage banks, Nigerians can be able to buy the homes with the small money they get.”
