Experts seek incentives for private developers to scale housing

Property experts have called for tax credits, Value Added Tax (VAT) exemptions and government-backed guarantees to encourage private developers to deliver affordable homes at scale and address the housing deficit.

The Group Chief Commercial Officer of Mixta Africa, Tola Akinsulire, made the call during a chief executive officers’ panel on “Public–Private Partnerships (PPPs) for Large-Scale Housing Delivery: Unlocking Housing at Scale Through Collaboration” at the Africa PropTech Priority Summit (Appsummit 2026), organised by Proptech Roundup in Lagos.

Akinsulire said Nigeria’s housing policies had focused largely on mortgages without addressing the wider system required to deliver homes and make them affordable to buyers. He cited Morocco’s housing programme, under which his company delivered 4,393 units on a single site, as an example of government support for large-scale development.

He said that in 2010, developers who committed to building homes priced at 250,000 dirhams and delivering at least 500 units within five years received tax credits covering parts of the value chain, including cement and corporate income tax.

On the demand side, buyers of qualifying homes were exempted from VAT, while a government-backed guarantee scheme covered up to 70 per cent of lenders’ credit risk following default.

“That made banks willing to lend and buyers able to buy. That is how you create a market, engineered on both the supply and demand sides,” he said.

Akinsulire urged governments to clarify whether public-private partnerships were intended to generate revenue or deliver social interventions, noting that each approach required a different allocation of costs and risks.

Where the objective was affordable housing for civil servants and other target groups, he said, governments should contribute through land, infrastructure and other support while agreeing on realistic prices.

He identified trust, buyer affordability and developers’ capacity to deliver as critical to successful PPPs.

While acknowledging the Federal Ministry of Housing’s Housing Delivery Framework and subsequent policy initiatives, he said more attention was needed to strengthen developers’ delivery capacity.

“If people have money and there are no houses to buy, we still have the same problem,” he said.

Akinsulire also urged technology companies to develop solutions that reduce costs and risks across the property value chain, including land titling, development approvals, construction monitoring, sales and off-plan financing.

“Technology must either reduce friction or reduce risk,” he said, urging PropTech innovators to develop solutions integral to housing delivery.

Also speaking, the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Alitheia Capital, Olajumoke Akinwunmi, identified weak engagement, inadequate frameworks and lack of trust as major obstacles to successful PPPs.

She called for stronger collaboration and properly prepared projects, rather than reliance on land banks without the necessary groundwork. “Often, after the handshake, you get to site and still deal with Omo Onile, compensation and unbuildable portions. That is not a ready project,” she said.

Akinwunmi also advocated transparent procurement and the development of local industries to support housing construction.

She estimated Nigeria’s housing challenge at about 30 million units, comprising a deficit of approximately 15 million homes and more than 15 million existing houses that are structurally inadequate or substandard.

The Chief Executive Officer of UPDC, Odunayo Ojo, described housing affordability as an economic problem driven by rising government charges and low household incomes.

He called for tax relief and pioneer status incentives for housing developers, arguing that increased charges were undermining efforts to reduce construction costs. “Rates and charges have tripled this year, yet we say we want cheaper housing,” he said.

Ojo also advocated build-to-rent schemes as an interim response to the affordability crisis, noting that many Nigerians could not afford to buy homes even with zero-interest mortgages because of low incomes.

He urged developers and other stakeholders to collaborate to reduce overheads and improve housing delivery.