Experts hinge Nigeria’s real estate growth on infrastructure investment — News — The Guardian Nigeria News – Nigeria and World News

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Abbey Mortgage Bank, Mobolaji Adewumi, has identified investment in infrastructure as a significant step in widening the investment basket in the real estate sector.

He stated this along with other experts during the first quarter Detail Commercial Solicitors Business Series held, at the weekend, in Lagos to identify key opportunities and growth in the Nigeria’s real estate sector.

According to Adewumi, “the real estate sector in Nigeria is poised for significant growth, riding on three key drivers: peri-urban development, fractional ownership and cost-effective sustainability innovation.

“Building a bridge across a peri-urban community and a fully urban community separated by a large expanse of water could significantly reduce travel time for commuters, allowing peri-urban dwellers to live in affordable neighbourhoods while maintaining their quality of life.

“People who migrate to urban areas do so because they have seen developments move to those areas. Until the infrastructure problem is sorted, we will continue to have that pressure in urban communities. When such things happen, the pressure you have on people wanting to stay in urban centres is pretty much reduced.”

Also, the Chief Executive Officer, Mixta Africa, Deji Alli, noted that “the devaluation of the naira, alongside widening inflation and interest rates, had reduced earning and purchasing power, putting a strain on investors’ ability to deploy resources into the sector, hence the need for a new approach to home ownership.

He said, “Fractional ownership through crowd-pulled funds will fill existing market gaps and broaden the off-taker base of real estate products and services. The income gap that arises on the back of global inflation and the cost of building materials makes fractional ownership of homes a more effective choice for investors.

“This will drive home ownership interestingly and creatively that the real estate can be financed.”It will also expand the bracket of those that are participating in this market and pull from other sources into the real estate.”

Chief Executive Officer of UPDC Plc, Odunayo Ojo, while highlighting the importance of developers to invest in peri-urban infrastructure to make them more attractive, said that while the new environmental fad highlights technological innovation and highly priced gadgets in modern housing, sustainable innovation could be deployed while cutting off excess cost.

“Sustainability can be inexpensive when simple decisions like where the materials are coming from, how they are being transported to site, and the impact on the environment, could make a huge difference,” he stated.

On her part, Partner Designate, Detail Commercial Solicitors, Adewunmi Alade, noted that the “discussion is a timely one as it addresses a very topical issue in modern-day Nigeria housing. The nuggets shared by experts are valid as they prefer solutions to areas which have since needed attention.”