The Gap in Nigerian Real Estate Investment- An investment Opportunity to Optimize

The Potential of Real Estate Investment in Nigeria
Investment in real estate has been a timeless and rewarding global enterprise. Nigeria, a landing home for most investors has experienced an explosion in real estate investment in recent time.
Report by Business Day on June 6, 2014 reveals a growing investor’s confidence in the Nigerian economy. This confidence has been the major catch for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the real estate sector.
Enabling factors such as Nigeria’s demographics, emerging middle class with strong spending power and, of course the recent re based of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which shows a GDP size of $510 billion has made Nigeria a hot spot for both local and foreign investors.
Current State of Real Estate Investment in Nigeria
In Nigeria presently, investment in industrial, office, infrastructure and retail real estate is gaining more attention and investment pull compared to residential. This trend has created a big space and opportunity for daring investors.
For instance, Actis LLP, a London-based private-equity firm with around US$1.7 billion (N272 billion) investments in Africa has initiated many projects in Nigeria, including, the 307,000 square feet Ikeja City Mall in Lagos. Reports say that the cost of Actis investment is approximately US$100 million (N16 billion), and is presently occupied by renowned retailers like Shoprite Holdings and Samsung Electronics. It has also invested another US$100 million (N16 billion) for developing a 19,40,000 square-feet Heritage Place in Lagos slated to open in 2015.
Actis as well as other notable real estate investors such as 3Investonline, UPDC, James Cubitt Architecture and a host of others leans heavily on industrial, office, infrastructure, and retail investment. This trend has no doubt created a huge opportunity for investment in residential real estate.
The Need to Invest in Residential Real Estate in Nigeria
BGL research says that Nigeria needs around 16 million housing units to accommodate its population of approximately 168 million, with over 50 per cent of the Nigerian population being homeless or without adequate shelter. Nigeria has room to create approximately 1 million housing units, per year, for the next 20 years to cater to the housing needs of its people.
Like never before, residential accommodation is in much demand in Nigeria. Nigeria is one of such places where property gets sold even before construction is completed. Nigeria’s urban population increased to 50 per cent of the population in 2012 from 10 per cent of the population in 1960. It is predicted that population of urban center, Lagos, will reach a staggering 20 million by the year 2020, making it one of the biggest cities in the world.
The need to redirect focus from industrial to residential real estate is expedient. Despite the unrest and insurgency Nigeria is grappling today, people from neighboring countries keep migrating into Nigeria increasing the already large population. There is a also a mass drift from rural to urban cities.
The recent re basing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the Federal Government which has placed Nigeria as the largest economy in Africa with a GDP of $510 billion ahead of South Africa (having a GDP of $370 billion) shimmers a gleam of the potential of investing in Nigeria real estate industry.
It has exposed much more opportunities in real estate and infrastructure, especially residential investment and development than had been previously imagined by both investors and analysts

Recent investment in Residential Real Estate
Mustapha Njie, a real estate developer from The Gambia has recently invested a whopping N24 billion into for the development of a 750-unit high-end housing estate called RivTaf Golf Estate in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, which will deliver luxury villas or duplexes, town houses and luxury two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Mustapha in a statement says “My confidence in the Nigerian market is simply because there is demand, and if we could build 600 housing units at Brufut Garden for a population of 1.5 million people in The Gambia, 750 housing units for Nigeria’s over 160 million people is just a scratch on the surface,”.
Foreign investors are seeing the potential of residential real estate investment in Nigeria and dipping into it.

For more details on how to invest in residential real estate in Nigeria, visit www.padronconsulting.com or send all inquiries to austin@padronconsulting.com or +2348181702919.

PadronConsulting assists foreign investors and Nigerians in the Diaspora to develop, acquire and manage properties even without having an established presence in Nigeria.

Ryta Moemeke