info@lpf:
We'll try to answer from our perspective:

1. Inflated Prices - Right about when we returned to Nigeria, there was an unprecedented boom in the Nigerian RE market, some say hyper inflated and caused by politicians laundering money by purchasing RE, but I have little interest in speculation. Whatever the cause, a house that would normally have sold for the equivalent of $300,000 - $500,000, suddenly was being marketed for the equivalent of $1 - 2 Million! Reality is those prices are out of reach to most people. Even in the US, I do not live in a million dollar house!

2. Uncertainty - I'll explain this one by using an example. In Atlanta, Georgia, before the RE bubble burst, one could reasonably estimate the RE growth rate at 4 - 6% year over year. This is all founded upon an incredibly mature RE industry, backed by a solid property surveying and valuation systems, a state of the art title recording system, fantastic title insurance in case any questions ever arise as to ownership and a justice system that works! Why is this relevant? Well quite simply, I would invest $100, knowing that except in an economic depression, my home purchase is backed by the full faith of the Republic! IN Nigeria, one could spend N500,000,000 on RE, and then have to contend with a disgruntled omonile son or daughter for the rest of your days. No thanks.

3. Quality - The reality is, once one has lived outside of Nigeria for an extended period (even Ghana and Benin), one gets accustomed to a certain level of quality in building design and finishing. This is almost always absent in Nigerian homes! There is a mediocrity in finishing that has become so accepted, it is quite sad. Why can tiles not be laid properly? Why do screeded walls and ceilings fall unaided (and always when you have guests, right?)? Why do the circuit boards blow up or burn? Why do wooden floor boards stub your toes? Why do doors always come off their hinges? Why do kitchen cabinets fall in the middle of the night, with all my good china? Why do the pipes always leak, why do toilets shake when you sit on them, why do I have to replace my toilet flushing mechanism every 3 months? Why does the air conditioner man attach the AC to the wall in such a way that I have to bend my head to read the inscriptions on it? Why, why, why
Quite simply, how can one then justify paying so much for such crap? I am always amused by the pictures in the property section, and always laugh till my sides pop open when I go on inspections of houses with "superlative finishing". Please! Look up a million dollar house any place else in the world except perhaps Tokyo and Beijing, and compare with a million dollar house in Nigeria, especially Lagos. I don't live in Abuja or Calabar, and don't intend to, so that market is not so relevant to me.

4. Location, Location, Location - I refuse to live in Mowe, Ajiran, Egbeda, Iyana ipaja, Ofada or any other city named after food! I respect people who live there, and who have managed to make life comfortable for themselves. Hats off to you! To each his own poison, however. I choose to live in Ikoyi, Ikeja GRA or Apapa GRA and Victoria Island coming in a distant 4th. I like ground space and lush cultivated greenery (not wild bushes), and whatever is left of it in Lagos can be found in these areas. Can I afford to buy lush greenery and ground space in these areas? Hell no! So I rent. It is affordable, and if I do a Net Present Value calculation of my money, I am well pleased.

info@lpf:
We'll try to answer from our perspective:

1. Inflated Prices - Right about when we returned to Nigeria, there was an unprecedented boom in the Nigerian RE market, some say hyper inflated and caused by politicians laundering money by purchasing RE, but I have little interest in speculation. Whatever the cause, a house that would normally have sold for the equivalent of $300,000 - $500,000, suddenly was being marketed for the equivalent of $1 - 2 Million! Reality is those prices are out of reach to most people. Even in the US, I do not live in a million dollar house!

2. Uncertainty - I'll explain this one by using an example. In Atlanta, Georgia, before the RE bubble burst, one could reasonably estimate the RE growth rate at 4 - 6% year over year. This is all founded upon an incredibly mature RE industry, backed by a solid property surveying and valuation systems, a state of the art title recording system, fantastic title insurance in case any questions ever arise as to ownership and a justice system that works! Why is this relevant? Well quite simply, I would invest $100, knowing that except in an economic depression, my home purchase is backed by the full faith of the Republic! IN Nigeria, one could spend N500,000,000 on RE, and then have to contend with a disgruntled omonile son or daughter for the rest of your days. No thanks.

3. Quality - The reality is, once one has lived outside of Nigeria for an extended period (even Ghana and Benin), one gets accustomed to a certain level of quality in building design and finishing. This is almost always absent in Nigerian homes! There is a mediocrity in finishing that has become so accepted, it is quite sad. Why can tiles not be laid properly? Why do screeded walls and ceilings fall unaided (and always when you have guests, right?)? Why do the circuit boards blow up or burn? Why do wooden floor boards stub your toes? Why do doors always come off their hinges? Why do kitchen cabinets fall in the middle of the night, with all my good china? Why do the pipes always leak, why do toilets shake when you sit on them, why do I have to replace my toilet flushing mechanism every 3 months? Why does the air conditioner man attach the AC to the wall in such a way that I have to bend my head to read the inscriptions on it? Why, why, why
Quite simply, how can one then justify paying so much for such crap? I am always amused by the pictures in the property section, and always laugh till my sides pop open when I go on inspections of houses with "superlative finishing". Please! Look up a million dollar house any place else in the world except perhaps Tokyo and Beijing, and compare with a million dollar house in Nigeria, especially Lagos. I don't live in Abuja or Calabar, and don't intend to, so that market is not so relevant to me.

4. Location, Location, Location - I refuse to live in Mowe, Ajiran, Egbeda, Iyana ipaja, Ofada or any other city named after food! I respect people who live there, and who have managed to make life comfortable for themselves. Hats off to you! To each his own poison, however. I choose to live in Ikoyi, Ikeja GRA or Apapa GRA and Victoria Island coming in a distant 4th. I like ground space and lush cultivated greenery (not wild bushes), and whatever is left of it in Lagos can be found in these areas. Can I afford to buy lush greenery and ground space in these areas? Hell no! So I rent. It is affordable, and if I do a Net Present Value calculation of my money, I am well pleased.