NHE and FNB partner up

The Namibia Housing Enterprise(NHE) and FNB Namibia recently signed a partnership agreement to provide affordable housing to their clients.
Earlier this year FNB publicly announced that they were looking to partner with credible entities in an effort to increase the stock of affordable housing. The signing of the agreement marks a very important milestone for the two entities.
The provision of adequate housing is a huge and escalating challenge in Namibia, particularly at the lower end of the market, and it remains very difficult for people with low income to own their own houses.
 “Namibia is faced with an acute shortage of housing which is the result of almost a decade of inadequate land delivery. Currently, the housing backlog is estimated to be some 105,000 houses in Namibia as a result of the economy not being able to supply demand. Further, the shortage of land and lack of serviced erven has forced up the price of land beyond where most Namibians can afford to buy property”, said FNB Namibia Chief Executive Officer of, Ian Leyenaar said at the signing of the agreement.
The agreement will enable NHE to recoup their investment much quicker and allow them to redeploy development capital elsewhere thereby accelerate land delivery and the provision of houses at affordable prices.
“Instead of competing with financial institutions on housing we decided to merge our forces with FNB and address the challenges of affordable housing for all and tackle issues that exclude lower income households from participating in the formal housing market. There is a demand for resources for affordable housing, we have to supply by making land available and building affordable houses”, said Senior Manager Technical Services and Property Management Uavuza Kaumbi.
NHE and FNB have a specific mandate to ensure that by 2030 a far greater proportion of the Namibian population will own homes that are safe and conducive for people to realise their full potential, and that there will be far more adequate housing with water and sanitation facilities for all Namibians.