What you need to know about MOFI real estate fund and its benefits

Many Nigerians, including those in dire need of houses they can call their own, are curiously unaware of the recently launched Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) Real Estate Fund (MREIF) and the benefits it offers.

A landmark initiative with public purpose but private sector-led, MREIF is designed to address the nation’s housing deficit and stimulate economic activity in the real estate and construction sectors.

It is a form of mortgage aimed to tackle Nigeria’s widening housing demand-supply gap, which the World Bank estimates at 28 million units, by providing housing finance for both developers on the supply side and affordable home buyers on the demand side.

MREIF is a N1-trillion initiative and, according to Biyi Adekunbi, Head, ARM Investment Managers, it provides low-interest, long-term mortgages, up to 20 years, disclosing that it is funded through a public-private partnership, with the federal government ensuring its stability and sustainability.

ARM Investment Managers are the managers of MREIF. It has so far raised N250 billion for on-lending, through the Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs), to mortgage loan seekers. N100bn of the fund came from the federal government while the balance was rased from the private sector.

Some of the PMBs have started securing facilities from this fund. Homebase Mortgage Bank, for instance, announced recently that it secured initial ₦3.5 billion funding from the fund, assuring that it will use the facility to drive access to affordable housing across Nigeria as part of efforts to bridge the deficit in the country.

“As a mortgage bank entrusted with this strategic investment, we are honoured to be selected as a recipient of this significant MREIF funding,” Arinze Adigwe, the bank’s managing director, noted in a statement.

Arinze said the facility empowers them to extend more affordable mortgages to everyday Nigerians, noting, “the MREIF fund is not just a fund injection, it’s a call to action. At Homebase, we see this as a mandate to accelerate impact. Every naira we deploy will go towards building lives, strengthening families, and creating sustainable communities.”

He assured further that, in deploying the fund, the bank will be focusing on strategic areas such as creating mortgage loans and boosting homeownership by offering affordable and flexible mortgage packages to low- and middle-income Nigerians.

MREIF offers mortgage interest rate as low as 12 percent and repayment tenor up to 20 years and is available to salaried employees in private and public sector. Self-employed individuals meeting the income and credit-worthiness criteria and Nigerians in the diaspora looking to invest in homeownership could also apply to access the fund.

Speaking on the fund at the 2025 edition of the BusinessDay annual Property Investment (PINVEST) conference, Lanre Olutimilehin, Strategic Advisor at Diya Fatimilehin & Co, described it as “One Solution to Nigeria’s Housing Challenge.”

Olutimilehin, who is also a Director at Trillium Real Estate Partners, an affiliate of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), listed the benefits of the fund as “access to long-term, low-cost mortgages at low interest rates for up to 20 years, and credit advancement to developers in raising construction finance for residential developments at scale.”

Another benefit, according to him, is seamless end-to-end application process on the MREIF platform from eligibility assessment to disbursement of mortgage loans.