ABSTRACT
Housing is one of the priorities of man?s needs. In African setting, owning a house mean that a person has graduated group of household, a status which characterized selfautonomy, manhood, some level of independence and capability to bring other relations who want to live there to do so. Owning a house is a dream for all. In the past, it was relatively easy to own a house because the cost was not much, coupled with some community assistance which has made building a house less tedious. But nowadays, owning a house especially in an urban or semi-urban area is a herculean task. There is no assistance from age-mate group or community. Everything is done with money. Even the land upon which to build the house is expensive. Building materials are costly. There are numerous building laws and regulations which must be complied with before one can build a house. In essence, building a house is capital intensive project which cannot be taken lightly. It is because of this that respite is often resorted into by going to financial institutions to borrow money. This thesis appraised the laws and institutions which have been established in the country in order to provide loan for persons wishing to own a house. The methodology adopted in this research is an amalgam of doctrinal, which is library oriented, and empirical, which involves interviewing various stake holders. It was found that despites the numerous laws and mortgage institutions, the system is not making meaningful progress as the country still has huge deficit of housing requirements. The study shows that Nigeria needs about 22 million housing units by year 2020s. The year 2020s are already here, but the country?s housing units are far below that projection. This failure is attributed to factors such as stringent land laws which made acquisition of land almost impossible. Other reasons discovered include corruption which constrains the smooth operation of the mortgage laws and institutions. There are also challenges associated with high interest rate, lack of awareness of the existence of mortgage loan, and lack of cash flow to meet the demands of applicants. It is recommended that there should be reform of the land Use Act, National Housing Funds, and the Federal Mortgage Bank Act, among others, in order to see that the impediments crippling mortgage financing in Nigeria are removed. It is also recommended that the interest rate be reduced or subsidized and government should encourage non-interest financing.