Stakeholders in the building industry have called on the government to provide incentives to players within the ecosystem as a way of boosting wealth creation and economic prosperity.
They disclosed this at the Nigerian British Chamber of Commerce and the International Real Estate Federation Real Estate Outlook 2023 themed “Pitching Your Tent Post-2023 Elections” in Lagos.
In a statement, the Chief Consultant of B. Adedipe Associates Limited, Dr Biodun Adedipe, while highlighting the nexus between the real estate sector and the economy, said a 0.79 correlation growth rate existed between the country’s Gross Domestic Product and the sector.
Adedipe noted that a focused government would give proper attention to the property market, supporting the entire real estate ecosystem with incentives.
He said, “The real estate sector is among the big six sectors that drive economic growth and while the sector has shown strong growth. Its contribution to GDP appears to be trending downwards.
“This means there is room for investments to get the kind of impact we need to improve GDP, seeing that real estate is systemic to every modern economy if given the right push.
The 2030 projections for an increasing population pegged at 8.5 billion people means the real estate must be properly positioned to create the value across all strata as it is expected to be.”
Meanwhile, the Managing Director, Alitheia, Jumoke Akinwunmi, said there was a need for the execution of affordable housing to bridge the housing deficits in the country.
She added, “However, its success hinged on the partnership between the private and public sector because there is the need to create institutions that would serve as middlemen between the government and private sector for easy accessibility and to achieve the success it deserves.”
Highlighting opportunities for logistics, particularly warehousing within the real estate ecosystem, the Chief Executive Officer of Sonedis Logistics, Dr Solomon Aigbavboa, noted that the warehousing market size, which had an annual growth rate of 11 per cent last year, would be worth 170 million dollars by end of 2023.
He said, “Its major drivers include increasing population, rising demands for e-commerce, and the demand for refrigerated warehousing. For the increasing demands of logistics of agro products, fast-moving consumer goods and emerging specialised markets, such as cold chain facilities in pharmaceuticals, there is a greater corresponding amount of returns.
“This means that the logistics arm of real estate is an area for the government and private sector to look into and invest in, to send a clear signal to the real estate sector.”
In her remarks, the Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Housing, Toke Benson-Awoyinka, reiterated that the real estate sector remained a focal point of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration.
She noted that Lagos would continue to explore data gathering, create policies and regulations to spur investments and address housing deficits within the state.
Benson-Awoyinka, however, sent warnings to real estate players engaging in fraudulent activities and taking advantage of innocent people to desist from such or face the consequences.
“We must sanitise the industry and stop the activities of those that would not allow Lagos to be the real estate capital of the world as it is poised to be. At the state level, we are seeking partnership with the private sector on the training of artisans across the real estate value chain, to take back their jobs that outsiders had hitherto hijacked. This is to reduce the unemployment situation we have and create wealth.
“We also are going to key into the housing data that would be gathered from the forthcoming national population census, so that we are better abreast of the housing situation in the state,” she said