Cantor Fitzgerald, a global investment firm with strong expertise in asset backed mortgage securities, has disclosed plans to invest $1 billion (about N200 billion) in the Nigerian mortgage sector.

The firm has also made arrangements to build 10,000 houses in Kaduna, Lagos, Enugu and Abuja within the next one year.

Representative of the firm, Mr. Jack Heffernan, Managing Director of the firm’s Debt Capital Markets division, today signed an MOU with Professor Charles Inyangette, CEO of the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), at a ceremony in Abuja presided over by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Speaking at the occasion, Okonjo-Iweala said that the entry of such an important player into Nigeria’s mortgage sector is yet another signal that the Goodluck Jonathan administration’s vision of making affordable housing available to Nigerians is earning the confidence of serious international investors. She said that the prospects of achieving the core vision of the NMRC, which is to get young Nigerians convenient access to the means of owning their own homes, is being achieved.

“Cantor Fitzgerald’s presence in Nigeria shows that our mortgage strategy is attracting the right kind of attention from the right kind of people around the world and this will deepen and diversify and ultimately reduce the cost of mortgage and housing in Nigeria. This shows that President Jonathan’s vision of making housing available to Nigerians is working,” Okonjo-Iweala said.

On his part, Mr. Hefernan described the NMRC as “exactly the right business model to bring liquidity to Nigeria’s housing sector.”

•Photo shows NMRC CEO, Prof. Charles Inyangette.