Nigeria
Sector
Construction & Materials
Infrastructure
Property
The Lagos State government is offering investors the opportunity to invest in the state's housing sector.
The metropolis currently has a massive lack of housing and the state government has made it its objective to provide 40 000 housing units within the next four years. Around 50 hectares of land have been identified for housing developments.
Returns on investment in the sector have the potential to be substantial because of the extremely high demand for housing.
Real estate sector
The Africa Report 2011 on the real estate market in Africa produced by Knight Frank, outlines the following on the industrial, retail, office, and residential real estate markets in Lagos:
Residential market
Ikoyi remains the expatriate location of choice in Lagos, with Banana Island, Victoria Island and Lekki also popular. The residential market saw prices decline during 2010 by around 20-30%, with the apartment market being particularly hard hit. Abuja, as a newly created master planned city, has a far greater concentration of residential compounds and large-scale residential communities with ancillary facilities.
Office market
After five years of exceptional growth, office rents in Lagos appear to have stabilised. The locations of choice for international companies remain the islands of Ikoyi, Victoria and Lekki, with Lagos Island continuing to be a market dominated by local occupiers, with the exception of Shell. There are several major schemes underway, which seek to ease the city’s chronic infrastructure difficulties and provide a quality of built space
previously unseen in Lagos. These range from the hugely ambitious 7 sq. km Eko Atlantic scheme taking shape off the southern shore of Victoria Island, to the more modest Twin Lakes scheme opposite Chevron on the Lekki Peninsula. The office market in the capital Abuja is on a much smaller scale, with most international companies regarding it as a location for representative offices rather than headquarters.
Retail market
The Palms Shopping Centre on Lekki Peninsula is the most important shopping destination. There are also shopping centres on Victoria Island and Ikoyi, with plans to develop further new shopping malls in Ikeja, particularly Ikeja Mall, and a mixed-use development scheme comprising some 28,500 sq m of leisure and retail space.
Industrial market
Lagos is the major industrial centre, though the traditional industrial area of Ikeja
remains in decline as its land prices make industrial development unfeasible. Key centres that are popular with international businesses are generally to the west (Agbara) and north (Ibadan Expressway) of the city, although Free Trade Zones are being developed to the east (Lekki Free Trade Zone and OK Free Trade Zone).
