RONKE AKINLEYE is an experienced executive with a strong background in the mortgage industry. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Lagos. Akinleye is the Group Head of Commercial Mortgage at Imperial Homes Mortgage Bank and has, at one time, served as Executive Director of Business Development and Operations at Gateway Mortgage Bank Limited. In this interview with CHUKA UROKO, she highlights the barriers women in mortgage experience due to legal, cultural, financial, and institutional realities, adding, however, that women also play a stabilizing role in the industry. She also speaks on other mortgage issues, including low penetration and poor awareness levels. Excerpts
Historically, finance has been a major issue in housing development. How would you assess the current state of housing finance in Nigeria?
The housing finance sector in Nigeria remains underdeveloped relative to the scale of demand. Mortgage penetration is still extremely low (well below 1 percent of GDP), largely due to high interest rates, short loan tenors, and limited access to long-term funding.
From my experience, Nigeria’s housing finance system is evolving, with stronger government intervention and private sector involvement. The major traction in housing finance in recent times is the availability of multiple schemes of government-backed low-interest mortgages.
These are Help-to-Own mortgages by Family Homes Fund Limited (FHFL), Ministry of Finance Real Estate Investment Fund (MREIF) by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), Mortgage Refinance by Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), and National Housing Fund (NHF) by Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN).
Each of those options targets different income groups, with trade-offs in interest rates, equity contribution, and processing speed. However, without deeper mortgage reforms, improved land administration, and macroeconomic performance, the housing deficit could widen beyond 17-28 million units.
Mortgage banking is male-dominated, especially at executive positions. What barriers have you observed or experienced as a woman in this sector?
Women’s challenges in Nigeria’s mortgage ecosystem cut across legal, cultural, financial, and institutional realities that differ markedly from Western mortgage markets. These barriers affect women both as mortgage professionals and as borrowers/homeowners, often reinforcing one another.
As a woman practitioner in the mortgage subsector, it is apparent that women make up a large share of processors and support roles, but they remain significantly underrepresented in senior leadership and executive positions.
The leadership positions in mortgage banks remain male-dominated. Moreover, cultural expectations continue to influence perceptions of women in finance and property. For instance, housing provision is often socially framed as a male responsibility, discouraging women from independent mortgage engagement.
Married women may face scrutiny or resistance when pursuing mortgages in their own names. As part of legal requirements, married women may have constraints in obtaining spousal consent in concluding a mortgage transaction.
The option of joint titling practices often masks women’s ownership rights and limits their independent borrowing power. In addition, sexual harassment and retaliation remain real issues in financial institutions. These experiences create psychological stress, career disruption, and mistrust in reporting systems, particularly when employers fail to act promptly or transparently.
How does diversity in leadership impact decision-making in mortgage institutions?
Leadership diversity cuts across gender, ethnicity, and professional background. In my experience, gender diversity brings more balanced and inclusive decision-making.
For example, women leaders often bring strong risk awareness and customer-centric thinking. Diversity in leadership improves corporate governance and innovation.
It is important to state that the CBN Corporate Governance Guidelines (2023) explicitly prohibit single-gender boards and require skills diversity, recognizing that diversity strengthens supervisory decision-making in financial institutions.
Institutions that embrace diversity tend to understand better underserved segments, including informal workers and female homeowners.
What are the biggest constraints limiting mortgage penetration in Nigeria?
As mentioned earlier, mortgage penetration in Nigeria is below 1percent of GDP, which is one of the lowest rates globally, despite an estimated housing deficit of N15-28 million units. The constraints are deep-rooted and structural rather than a lack of demand. The limiting factors are categorized as:
*Affordability of a customer: This is typically driven by interest rate and tenor. As a result of high interest rate which ranges between 18 percent and 28 percent, a and short tenor between 5 and 15 years compared with what obtains in more developed markets. This may sharply increase monthly repayments and impact negatively on affordability.
*High Down Payment Requirements: Most Primary Mortgage Banks require borrowers to pay 20 percent to 30 percent equity contribution upfront. For a ?20-million property, that is ?4-6 million cash. This a huge barrier for most aspiring homeowners.
*Limited Mortgage Awareness: Many Nigerians still believe mortgages are only for the rich. Others don’t know where to start or which institutions to approach. This lack of mortgage awareness keeps people stuck in the rental cycle, and that is a big problem.
*Macroeconomic Volatility: Currency depreciation, inflation spikes, and unstable growth raise both lenders’ funding costs and borrowers’ repayment risk. For instance, the cost of construction has tripled between 2023-2024, which further distort mortgage affordability by pushing home prices higher.
*Land Titling, Registry, and Foreclosure Bottlenecks: Considering the high cost and delays in obtaining Certificates of Occupancy; multiple consent requirements; weak and slow foreclosure processes are critical issues that raise credit risk and discourage banks from long-term housing exposure
*Ineffective Scale of Public Housing Finance Schemes: While the NHF, and newer interventions such as MREIF, and FHF exist, access is limited by the mortgage partners due to the stringent requirements set by the fund managers.
*Strict Lending Requirements: Mortgage lenders in Nigeria often set strict requirements, including, proof of steady income, credit history (which many Nigerians don’t have), collateral and legal property documentation.
Many Nigerians would like to borrow to own homes but cannot. How can institutions like yours better manage affordability challenges for them?
Institutions can manage borrower affordability challenges more effectively by redesigning mortgage products for both the demand (property buyers) and supply sides (real estate developers) of the market, and improved credit – underwriting framework that cuts across informal sector.
It is also exigent that requirements for accessing government intervention funding scheme (FHF, MREIF, NHF) by mortgage lenders should be more flexible. In addition, engagement with stakeholders in the mortgage ecosystem (government, real estate developers, fund managers, PMBs) in addressing the supply side of the market is germane, especially in tackling the construction cost, which is very fundamental to the price of property
As a player, what, in your view, is the role mortgage banks play in expanding access to housing finance?
Mortgage banks act as specialized financial intermediaries that bridge the gap between individual homebuyers and available capital, playing a critical role in increasing access to housing finance by originating, funding, and servicing long-term loans.
They transform the prohibitively high cost of purchasing a home into manageable monthly payments over extended periods. The Primary Mortgage Banks, through Mortgage Bankers Association of Nigeria (MBAN) were one of the stakeholders that played a critical role in the Pension Reform Act 2004 that introduced the Retirement Savings Account, which was to address the burden of down payments for mortgage, thereby making homeownership more accessible.
MBAN is very aggressive in sensitizing the market on affordable mortgage through the government intervention fund schemes (MREIF, FHF, NHF, NMRC) and providing insights to homebuyers on how to access mortgage at lower interest rates.
What trends should stakeholders watch out for in the mortgage market in the years ahead?
One of the most important trends is the rise of blended finance, which is already enabling single-digit mortgage rates and lowering down payments in specific schemes.
For instance, there will be expansion of vehicles like MOFI-managed funds, FHF, NMRC refinancing, and housing guarantee schemes. There will be more explicit risk-sharing between government and lenders. Digitization of mortgage process should be a major concern for all stakeholders in the ecosystem.
Not as an IT upgrade, but as a core strategic transformation. In today’s environment, digitization is no longer optional; it is essential for affordability, scale, risk control, and competitiveness, especially in markets like Nigeria.
Recapitalization of the PMBs: In today’s housing-finance environment, recapitalization is not just a regulatory issue; it is a survival, scale, and credibility issue.
Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Framework: This is not a reporting exercise alone. In mortgage lending, it directly influences who gets financed, at what cost, how risks are priced, and how institutions access funding. Strong ESG integration enables access to blended funds, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), ESG-linked and green credit lines.
In conclusion, Nigeria’s mortgage banking sector sits at a critical turning point. While demand for housing finance is enormous, structural, macroeconomic, and institutional constraints continue to limit mortgage penetration. The future outlook is therefore cautiously optimistic, with progress expected to be gradual rather than transformational.