Real estate has continued to play and is still playing a significant role in man’s evolution. It is not a coincidence that food, shelter and clothing which are the three essentials that sustain mankind, also have some linkage to land.
In Nigeria our land tenure system is a mixed story. In Southern Nigeria, land was generally vested in communities and families under customary law, whereas in the North land was vested in authorities for the use and benefit of the people. All this however changed when Nigeria became colonized and land was vested in the Queen until 1963 when Nigeria became a Republic.
Consistent with the economies of industrialized nations, the colonial government in Nigeria needed land for developmental purposes, specifically for agriculture and industrialization. As land at that time was vested in the communities and families, government was forced to compulsorily acquire these lands from them and today we have a rash of acquisition statutes in Nigeria beginning with the Public Land Acquisition Act of 1917, through to the Public Land Acquisition Law Cap 105 of Western Region, 1959, to the Public Land Acquisition Act of 1976.
Real Estate is one of the industries in which Nigerians have done quite “well” in creating local solutions This is partly because you cannot import houses and partly because it has proven to be a lucrative investment. 720,000 units of housing per year. This gap has created momentous room for anyone wishing to invest in real estate in Nigeria.
THE NIGERIA REAL ESTATE MARKET AS IT CURRENTLY IS:
Real Estate investments in Nigeria are majorly land holdings, diverse commercial buildings and residential housing.
In commercial buildings: A good deal of development is happening in the area of commercial realty especially in Abuja and Lagos, but for the most part commercial real estate as an investment is often an afterthought in Nigeria, resulting from residential buildings which have now fallen into over developed commercial neighborhoods, market buildings. Nigeria does not have a strong commercial estate market in areas like business parks, warehousing and raw office buildings however this is changing slowly.
In residential real estate: This area has the strongest participation by prospectors and investors. A sleuth of residential estates, apartment buildings and single family dwellings are built daily by real estate developers/ investors all over the country .Yet opportunities still abound even here because of the gap between current availability and demand.
Opportunities In land holdings: With a rapidly urbanizing population city boarders are rapidly appreciating creating an opportunity for land investments. However, venturing into this area requires deep insights into government plans in terms of infrastructure distribution and land allocations. This because of the lapse in infrastructure spread across the country, especially in city outskirts.
Residential real estate: Residential real estate offers an incredible array of investment opportunities, some with reasonable participation from current investors, others left idly still. A great opportunity exists in mass housing schemes for the middle income earners.
Developing mass housing will allow for the integration of infrastructures which the state has failed to provide, such well planned developments present a value proposition that middle income earners will have to accept, allow for economies of scale and therefore reasonable rental rates which they can afford.
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