Realty Point Limited, experts review real estate in 2016 and forecast for 2017

Realty Point Limited, a real estate development company in Lagos recently gathered experts from different areas of real estate for the company’s annual real estate review and projections for the new year.

At the Realty Point LTD annual real estate review, professionals and stakeholders in the real estate and construction industry w solutions to the Nigerian real estate sector currently being affected by economic downturns in the country.

The panelists at the event were Akin Arogundade, Business Development and Strategy Manager, Realty Point LTD; Arinze Adigbe, Group Head, Risk Management, Homebase Mortgage Bank; Oladotun Olushola, Chief Strategist, DOTRubik; and Tayo Odunsi, CEO Northcourt.

The moderator was Debo Adejana, MD/CEO, Realty Point LTD.

Mr Tayo Odunsi made it known that in 2016; a lot of businesses saw funds being stifled. He added that 2016 wasn’t the best of years, but there were few bright spots. He added that quality and price became king, and money was moving very intelligently.

Mr Odunsi also said rents rate were reviewed downwards, he added that the real estate sector is absolutely dependent on the economy.

According to Mr Akin Arogundade, “once there is a shock in the economy, it will affect the real estate sector.” In his opinion, the downturn in the economy has impacted negatively on real estate in the past year.

In the same vein, Mr Oladotun Olushola posited that in 2016, there was an overflow of commercial space. In his words, “in office space and commercial real estate, there was an overflow of supply.”

Mr Tayo Odunsi went further to reveal that there are about 23 co-working spaces in Nigeria. While emphasizing that, “a lot of people became more sensitive about how much they pay as rent. People became more sensitive to quality and price.”

Speaking on mortgage financing in Nigeria, Mr. Arinze Adigbe noted that Nigerians are not used to some of the structures in the uniform underwriting standard.

While speaking on Nigeria’s foreign exchange rate, Mr Odunsi made it known that the foreign exchange rate is defined, however, it is not implemented. He added that there is an implementation problem.

Mr Tayo Odunsi also explained that when it comes to social housing, you have to be very deliberate in design, you have to be very deliberate in financing, and you have to be very deliberate when it comes to those who access it.

Speaking about 2017, Mr Debo Adejana noted that that 2017 is a little bit better. He added that he would really want the foreign exchange situation to be addressed.

Subsequently, the full video will be released soon and made available on Nigeria Real Estate Hub for viewing.