How Lagos Residents Can Manage Rising Rents — Hamzat

Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, has advised residents struggling with rising rents to choose accommodation within their financial means, share housing where necessary and consider mortgage financing as a pathway to home ownership.

Hamzat gave the advice on Thursday during a Question and Answer segment on Nigeria Info FM while responding to a question about the difficulty young workers face in paying rent in Lagos.

He was asked how a 22-year-old earning N100,000 monthly could afford a self-contained apartment or mini-flat costing about N1 million annually.

The Deputy Governor said the challenge of rising housing costs should encourage residents, particularly those at the early stages of their careers, to avoid taking on rents they cannot comfortably afford.

He advised residents to consider living with parents or relatives or sharing accommodation rather than spending a disproportionate share of their income on rent.

“Don’t let us misunderstand ourselves as a people. We are cultural people,” Hamzat said.

“So, if I start work as a young person and I’m not married, a lot of us live with our parents. A lot of us live with our cousins.

“You know, go to Turkey, for example, and see how young people also live.

“So, if you don’t start from the top self-contained, you don’t start from the top. You start from the average depending on.”

Hamzat said residents should keep their housing costs within a level that allows them to meet other essential expenses, including food, clothing and transportation.

“In fact, if you spend more than 40 percent of your income on rent, it is too high because you must eat, you must buy clothes, you must do transportation,” he said.

Rather than treating independent accommodation as an immediate necessity, Hamzat urged residents to make housing decisions according to their income and gradually move to better accommodation as their financial circumstances improve.

Beyond rent, the Deputy Governor said Lagos was pursuing mortgage financing as part of a broader strategy to make home ownership more accessible.

He argued that buying a property through a single payment was beyond the reach of many residents and that housing should instead be financed in instalments.

“But, you know, the challenge is we cannot continue to buy houses the way we buy rice and yam,” he said.

“So, we must buy properties using a mortgage.

“And that’s why we have a mortgage board in Lagos.”

Hamzat said the Lagos State Residents Registration Agency (LASRRA) registration system would help the government establish residents’ identities, addresses and places of work, while a credit assessment system could determine their ability to repay housing loans.

“So, that’s why we said people must have LASRRA number so we can know that okay, you live in Lagos. This is where you live. This is your address. This is where you work.

“So that there is a credit bill that checks everything that says, okay, you can pay.”

Using a N7 million property in Bisedi as an example, Hamzat said a prospective homeowner could pay a 10 per cent initial deposit of N700,000 and spread repayment of the balance over 10 years.

He said the monthly repayment would depend on the buyer’s income.

“Some people pay 25,000 monthly or 35,000,” he said.

“Whatever it is, depending on your income.”

Hamzat said mortgage financing would provide an alternative for residents who could not afford to pay the full cost of a property at once.

“That is the way to go because we know that a lot of people will not be able to afford to pay a one-shot deal,” he said.

He also encouraged residents to cultivate a culture of saving, arguing that the ability to demonstrate regular savings would improve their prospects of accessing housing finance.

“But the bottom line is, like I said, the culture of ability to save, so that if people see that you can save money, then I can give you a property,” Hamzat said.

He added that residents should not feel pressured to begin with expensive accommodation.

“It doesn’t have to be, if you are a young person, you can start with one bedroom or even a self-contained, like you explained.”