NRMC, AMDC partner on housing finance, training

In a bid at providing affordable housing to all Nigerians, the Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) and Alpha Mead Development Company (AMDC), a subsidiary of Alpha Mead Group have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to provide housing finance, training, research, advisory and project structuring to increase the stock of affordable housing in the country.

The MoU will also provide and permit technical support and advice to Alpha Mead in the residential part of the estate market.

It will make it easier and faster for customers pre-qualified by AMDC to access mortgage from the member- financial institutions of the NMRC.

He said that the NMRC decided to partner Alpha Mead because of its innovative and technology-driven approach to increase affordable housing stock in Nigeria; and to leverage its expertise in facilities management, which he believes, will come in handy to maintain the projects after construction.

“The combination of these capacities that Alpha Mead bring to the partnership will give the market the assurance that property prices can be sustained, going forward; and we can all deliver to the specific needs of the customers,” he said.

Besides, he said the mortgage refinance firm chose the partnership because of the desire to see the Alpha Mead model succeed.

This, Inyangete said, is because of the firm’s believe that the model will allow for increased transactions in the housing development value chain and providing its member institutions with more projects to finance.

Group Managing Director of Alpha Mead, Femi Akintunde, expressed delight at the partnership, which he described as a great demonstration of NMRC’s commitment to reduce housing deficit; and recognised Alpha Mead’s innovative approach to delivering quality and affordable housing to Nigerians.

“It is becoming obvious that the conventional building methods cannot bridge Nigerian housing gap, especially in the face of the myriad of challenges that face the affordable housing value chain. So, what we bring to the market are the possibilities of addressing the challenges of affordability and quality; which are two critical issues that are inhibiting the nation’s affordable housing market,” Akintunde said.

He noted that the structure of the market makes is a tall order for people in the middle-income bracket to own homes because of the high entry barrier.

BABAJIDE OKEOWO