Housing delivery across Nigeria remains uneven, with some states recording hundreds of completed homes while others reported no new residential units in 2026, according to the Association of Housing Corporations of Nigeria (AHCN).

The association’s state-by-state housing delivery audit, released to mark World Habitat Day, highlights wide disparities in performance, growing reliance on public-private partnerships (PPPs) and institutional challenges facing state housing corporations.

AHCN said Nigeria needs not only more housing projects but also stronger housing institutions, reliable performance data and a clearer link between government construction programmes and the housing needs of ordinary citizens.

The 2026 audit showed that Borno completed 1,614 housing units during the reporting period, up from 500 in 2025, while Benue recorded 154, compared with 30 in the previous year. Jigawa reported 505 completed units, against 500 in 2025. Bayelsa completed 108 housing units for civil servants, while Delta recorded 72, Kano 340 and Zamfara 80.

However, several states reported no completed units during the period, while others had no new projects or provided insufficient information on their activities. The findings highlight differences in the capacity of state housing institutions to sustain delivery and the need for more consistent reporting.

Although some states recorded no completions, others reported substantial construction pipelines. Enugu listed 15,000 housing units under construction, while Lagos reported 2,413 ongoing units. Niger State also listed 6,000 units under a joint venture at an advanced stage.

The figures, however, do not establish how many of the ongoing or proposed homes will be completed within the year or whether they will be affordable to low- and middle-income households.

Several states are increasingly relying on PPPs and joint ventures to expand housing supply. The audit identified such arrangements in Abia, Akwa Ibom, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Lagos and Niger.

Kebbi reported a joint venture involving 250 housing units, of which 50 had been completed, while Kaduna recorded ongoing PPP activity alongside projects still at the mobilisation stage.

AHCN said PPP could help expand development opportunities, but its impact should be assessed against actual completions and affordability. It noted that a project pipeline does not automatically translate into additional homes, as delivery depends on financing, construction progress and the capacity to provide housing at prices households can afford.

The audit also identified institutional challenges, including the merger of housing corporations with ministries in Bauchi, Nasarawa and Taraba. While the findings do not establish a direct link between such mergers and lower output, they raise questions about the funding, autonomy and operational capacity of the corporations.

AHCN President, Eno Obongha, said housing was more than a roof over people’s heads, describing it as essential to human dignity, family stability, economic productivity, public health, security and national development.

“When a family cannot afford decent accommodation, the consequences extend beyond the household. It affects children’s education, workers’ productivity, health, urban security, household income and ultimately, the economic development of the nation. Nigeria therefore cannot continue to treat housing as an isolated sector,” he said.

Obongha called for reforms in housing policies, institutional structures and operations to support mass housing production and address the national deficit, as well as structurally defective and substandard homes.

He also urged policymakers to redefine affordable housing beyond a low selling price, arguing that the total cost of ownership or occupancy must be sustainable relative to household income. “This therefore will require us to address land, construction and infrastructure costs, interest rates, mortgage tenor, household income, transportation, energy and maintenance costs,” he said.

The association called for stronger collaboration among financial stakeholders and the creation of a dedicated funding window for social housing, arguing that the country could not meet its housing needs through short-term, expensive finance and high interest rates.

“Nigeria cannot build millions of houses using short-term and expensive housing finance with high interest rates. Housing requires long-term capital and our financial policy lacks special funding modalities, waivers and provision for social housing development,” Obongha said.

He also lamented that state housing corporations were increasingly being denied access to land, limiting their capacity to initiate and sustain development projects. “While many housing corporations are looking for lands for development, most state ministries of lands prefer to allocate lands to private developers who will eventually sell such lands for profit,” he said.

Obongha called for new land allocation arrangements that prioritise housing corporations and enable them to establish land banks for future development.

AHCN further advocated restructuring state housing corporations into profit-oriented agencies capable of attracting investment, mobilising finance and delivering projects more efficiently. “The future housing corporation must be able to originate a project, structure it, secure land, attract investors, mobilise finance, supervise construction, manage the estate and recover its investment.

“Housing corporations must become more professional, more commercially disciplined, more transparent, more innovative, more accountable and more responsive to the needs of the people,” he added.