Nigeria has a housing deficit of 17 million units, but most people investing in Nigerian real estate prefer to invest in commercial — especially retail — development, BusinessDayOnline reports.
South African investors have been visible in most sectors of the Nigerian economy for the last decade. Right now, they’re bullish on development of retail malls.
Nigeria and South Africa as the leading countries in Africa for largest real estate investments, according to a recent report by Knight Frank, says BusinessDay.
“The potential of the Nigerian market is unlimited, even though it is relatively immature,” said Japie Swart, chief operating officer for Resilient Africa, a South African real estate investment and development company. “We see big international (European) retailers coming here in the next two to three years. I think Nigeria is the flavor of the moment and it is only natural for international investors to migrate to this place.”
The availability of crude oil in Nigeria will always trigger an increase in the demand for property, said Gary Garrett, head of real estate finance for Standard Bank in an Africa Property News interview, Pulse.ng reported.
Resilient wants to develop as many malls as it can in Nigeria as soon as possible, according to BusinessDay. The company is a joint venture with Shoprite and Stanbic IBTC as its development partners.
One of Resilient’s Nigerian developments is Delta Mall, a 14,000 square-meter (150,695 square-foot) retail outlet that’s expected to cost $58 million. Resilient has also started work on another mall in Owerri, Swart said in a BusinessDay interview.
Other large retail developments by South African companies in Nigeria include RMB Westport’s 11,000 square-meter (118,403 square-foot) Circle Mall in Lekki, Lagos, estimated to cost $800 million.
“We see opportunities in the Nigerian market and we are not discouraged by anything,” said Dieter Boshoff, RMB Westport’s leasing adviser, in a BusinesDayinterview. “The size of our developments here is a measure of our commitment to Nigeria and confidence in its economy.”
RMB is developing another mall in Lekki – The Royal Gardens Mall – which is three times the size of Circle Mall with 30,000 square meters (322,917 square feet), Boshoff said.
“We will be developing another mall of that same size in Abuja, and that tells you how much confidence we have in this economy,” Boshoff said.
