By Yinka  Kolawole
Experts in the real estate sector have declared that huge opportunities abound in the Nigerian property market, in spite of the major challenges confronting the sector.

The experts, who are drawn from the mortgage sector, real estate development and estate surveying profession,spoke recently in Lagos, at a one-day seminar organised by International Real Estate Federation (FIABCI) Nigeria, with the theme: ‘Mortgage Finance & the Nigerian Property Market: Challenges & Opportunities’.

They opined that the property market is the future of the Nigerian economy because it is capable of stimulating the other sectors of the economy, anchoring their optimistic views of the property market and mortgage finance sector on the country’s population, demand and the economic capacity of the people.

The realtors however noted that for the potentials of the sector to be fully achieved, the bureaucratic bottlenecks, dearth of basic infrastructures and costly land administration in the country must be adequately addressed.

Speaking at the event, Yinka Adeola, MD/CEO, Safetrust Savings and Loans Limited, noted some of the factors that can drive growth and opportunities in the mortgage and property market sectorin the country include its population of over150 million and a growth rate estimated at 2.83 percent per annum.

He also noted that apart from being the most populous country in Africa, the country is the largest economy in West Africa and the fourth largest in Africa after South Africa, Egypt and Algeria with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $96 billion.

He remarked that while provision of houses through the creation of mortgages is taken for granted in developed countries, it remains a major challenge in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa including Nigeria. He added that Nigeria’s housing deficit is in excess of 17 million units with an estimated mortgage financing gap of over N60 trillion.

“According to the World Bank, Nigeria needs to produce 720,000 housing units yearly based on an assumption of nine dwelling units a year per 1,000 of population and home ownership rate here is put at two percent of work force,” he said.

Adeola stressedthat these factors along with economic growth and an emerging middle class offer opportunities for investment in the housing sector, adding that the country has witnessed a number of reform programmes aimed at encouraging private sector investments in the real estate sector.