Experts Canvass Policy Support For Real Estate Sector’s Growth

Despite mounting challenges in the nation’s economy, experts in the housing industry have stated that huge opportunities abound in the country’s real estate sector, hence the sector’s low contribution to the GDP has potential to grow.
However, for Nigeria to reap full benefit from the sector government would have to support the built industry with the right policies which would create the much-needed enabling environment for Real Estate to thrive, the experts submitted.
They made this submission on Monday, February 12, 2024 during an event in Lagos organised by the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) in collaboration with the International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI), Nigeria.
The theme of the event was Real Estate Outlook ‘Looking Ahead: Gauging Opportunities’.
In his welcome address, NBCC President and Chairman of Council, Ray Atelly, said that though there were talks about investors leaving the country, he believed many opportunities abound in the real estate of the economy.
The Lead Speaker, Mr. Biodun Adedipe, delivered a fact-based presentation on current macro economic challenges and opportunities for the Nigerian real estate sector.
At the executive session, Adedipe was joined by Paul Onwuanibe the CEO of Landmark Holdings; Yemi Idowu, CEO of Aircom; Bidemi Fadayomi, Executive Director, UPDC Plc and Hakeem Ogunniran, Chairman of the Construction and Real Estate Group NBCC.
The event, which was attended by leading industry experts, raised the challenge of excessive regulatory oversight in the sector.
Adedipe identified direct and secondary challenges which the country currently faces like food inflation arising from the Ukraine/Russia war and the resulting protectionist policies which impacted commodity prices like wheat, rice and maize.
He added that the real estate sector was not isolated from the development.
However, he maintained that the sector has huge potentials for growth.
The Special Guest and the Special Adviser, Housing, Lagos State, Barakat Odunuga-Bakare, said one of the things the government must do was to ensure effective regulation.
However, Ogunniran, urged stakeholders to hone their skills on modern technology that will help them to standardize and deliver projects on time in cost-effective ways.