The first phase of the Federal Government’s new housing scheme has been over-subscribed sixth-fold, Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, disclosed this morning in Abuja.

A modest 10,000 mortgages are provided for in this phase of the revolutionary scheme but “as at Friday the 5th of September, 2014 (the initial closing date of the registration exercise), we had received 66,402 valid applications – with more still calling!,” Okonjo-Iweala said at a press conference in the Nigerian capital.

She, however, assured that “all 66,402 applications will be sent to approved mortgage lenders for processing,” adding that “processing will take 8 weeks” and “applicants which meet the eligibility requirements will obtain mortgages and ultimately houses.”

The minister gave the following highlights about the applicants:

•The applications were spread across the 36 states including FCT.

•63% of applicants were male, with 37% female.

•89% of applications applied for themselves – that is in their own name, even women!

•Only 11% were joint applications (that is Husband and Wife).

•Almost 60% of applicants were in the 31-40yr age bracket, 15% in the 21-30yr bracket – that is a healthy 75% of young people willing to buy homes and can easily have tenors of up to 20yrs for their mortgages.

•Nigerians showed that we prefer 3-bedroom flats/houses, with 62.7% of applicants applying to acquire this property type. 32% wanted 2-bedroom flats and a small percentage applied for 1-bedroom flats and 1-bedroom self-contained flats.

•96% of all applicants are currently living in rented accommodation.

•51% of all applicants want to live in Abuja and 18% in Lagos. This shows that almost 70% percent of applicants want to live in the two main urban areas and there is a strong belief in Nigeria (showing that Abuja is truly the Centre of Unity).

•92% of applicants are in stable employed positions – the lenders will be very happy with this.., whilst only 8% are self-employed.

Okonjo-Iweala said that “due to the over subscription of 6x, a decision has been taken to give all applicants to the lending members of Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) to share on a pro-rata basis. Lending members of NMRC are expected to have the refinancing window of up to 20 years.

“They will sift, then analyse and pre-qualify all applicants culminating in the amounts each lender is willing to advance to the applicant. This lets the applicant know value of property he/she can afford.”

The minister disclosed that lending Members of NMRC have promised to complete the exercise within 6 – 8weeks from receipt of the list.

“Following this exercise, the first completed 10,000 mortgages will be published in the dailies,” she said, adding: “Subsequent qualified applicants will be notified. Once qualified or notified, each applicant can then begin to look for a home that is within their borrowing range.”

•Photo shows Okonjo-Iweala.