Nigerian property and land

The Nigerian property market is not something I normally write about, but as I try to keep my eye on as many of the world's property markets as possible I thought it would worth mentioning some interesting facts about whats taking place in the Nigerian property market.

A land reform act passed in 1978 gives the Nigerian government ultimate ownership and thus control over most of the countries land.

Under this act the Nigerian government owns almost 95% of the nations land, with much of the remaining 5% being untitled.

The population of Nigeria is around 140 million people, a figure which is expected to double by 2050.

In the capital, Lagos, the population is expected to increase from the current 15 million to 23 million people in only the next 5 years!

With such huge increases in population demand for property and land is very high in Nigeria and is on the increase.

With such demand for land there is unfortunately a huge abuse of power taking place, as it does in many countries but particularly in Africa.

People who have invested their life savings and work into building their own home are now seeing them being ripped down by the government. Huge swathes of the city are being cleared to make way for new developments.

The government is selling the land at a huge profits to developers. These developers then build new homes, many of which are priced in the million dollar plus range, and also make huge profits.

Whilst this is good business for the government and developers is a human rights tragedy.

Reforms of the land laws and the introduction of western style mortgages have been expected for sometime but are slow to materialise.

In the short term things are unlikely to get better. Demand for housing and land is only going to increase as is the greed of those in power.

The rental market similarly has huge demand, often tenants need to be able to come up with 3 years rent in advance just to rent a home.

I'm a big fan of investing in cities with increasing populations (though particularly in more developed nations) and with the demographic changes taking place in Nigeria it could be a great place to invest if one can get secure title on the land and has family connections in the country.

That said, I feel the Nigeria is a little risky for me and I'll concentrate more on my day job of Central and Eastern European property.

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