Notwithstanding the difficult end to the year, Nigeria still remains one of the top investment destinations and has been endorsed as the third fastest growing economy behind China and Qatar in 2015 by CNNMoney.

Broll Nigeria has released its Nigeria retail Market Q4, 2014 and Lagos Office Market Q4, 2015 report.

According to the retail market report, the retail market in the final quarter of 2014 remained relatively buoyant. Despite the current economic climate currently characterized by negative indicators, retailers in key hubs were able to sail through given the slight boost in retailer traffic during Christmas/holiday period. We anticipate that investors in the retail segment remained keen as current setbacks do not take away attractive demographics including rising urbanisation rates and a rapidly growing population. Net average achieved rentals in Lagos and Abuja were stable at 65sqm/month and 55sqm/month, however we observed an uptake in in smaller shop units of 50 – 100sqm.


On the other hand and according to their Lagos office Market report, Q4 performance remained relatively stable as institutional investors with existing and prospective real estate investments were undeterred by macro-economic challenges and political uncertainty. Prior to the current economic setback, many of these investors were keen on making an investment in Nigeria, with the rebasing and other strong economic fundamentals that emerged earlier in the year hastening their efforts to make an entry. Interest in collective investment schemes such as REITs has gained significant traction in recent periods. Poor performing assets classes are encouraging increased patronage from yield seeking investors across board. In December, HMK REIT began its N13.39bn IPO and once listed it should be the 2nd largest REIT in Nigeria after the N26.7bn UPDC REIT. This should represent 25% of Nigeria’s entire REIT market, see the chart below for more.