More Nigerians are dipping into their pension savings to finance home purchases as the country’s tough economic situation continues to squeeze incomes and limit access to cash for building or buying properties.

According to the latest report by the National Pension Commission (PenCom) for the fourth quarter of 2024, the number of Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holders who accessed their pension contributions to pay for residential mortgages surged by 86.5%. A total of 7,094 Nigerians were approved to withdraw up to 25% of their pension balances in Q4 2024, up from 3,804 in the previous quarter.

Despite this sharp rise in the number of people tapping into their pensions for home ownership, the total amount disbursed actually fell by 7.3%, from N32.62 billion in Q3 to N30.24 billion in Q4.

A breakdown shows that of the 7,094 approvals in Q4, 5,192 were public sector workers, including federal and state employees, while 1,902 were from the private sector.

Experts say this trend highlights how more Nigerians are relying on their long-term savings to achieve home ownership as day-to-day income becomes increasingly insufficient.

Urban planner and environmentalist, Mr. Michael Simire, said the country’s economic challenges have left many Nigerians unable to save enough from their regular earnings to build or buy homes.

“Money is not readily available in the economy for people to start building their own homes. This is negatively affecting the real estate and mortgage sectors, while also reducing the purchasing power of Nigerians. Many RSA holders are now taking advantage of the PenCom policy that allows them to use part of their pension to buy homes,” he said.

PenCom’s report also showed that during the same period, 8,130 RSA holders under 50 years old were approved to withdraw 25% of their balances due to temporary job losses. Most of these—7,494—were from the private sector, with 636 from the public sector, bringing total disbursements for this category to N22.85 billion.

These figures paint a clear picture of how Nigerians are increasingly leaning on their pension savings—not just for retirement, but to weather current economic realities and secure critical needs like housing.