By Chukwudi Nweje
The need to embrace innovation and quality control to ensure the sustainability of the real estate industry took centre stage recently when Lagos Business School/Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers Real Estate held the 2023 Summit in Lagos.
The summit with theme, ‘Building for the Future: Innovations, Opportunities and Quality Control’, brought together industry players and government functionaries who discussed ways to move the real estate industry forward.
Keynote speaker, Gbenga Olaniyan, founding Partner of Estate Links Limited, set the tone for the discussion in his paper titled, ‘Building for the Future’, where he emphasised that the real estate market is dynamic and that practitioners need to understand the market before venturing into it.
He stated that building for the next generation required that practitioners should make decisions based on accurate information and statistics, and noted that the best approach to real estate was to ‘think long-term’ and use artificial intelligence (AI).
He said, “AI will take over the business of people who don’t use AI, so the onus is on us all to get connected. We need to understand AI before it leaves us behind, because clearly, this is part of the future of construction.”
In his remarks, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Abimbola Salu-Hundeyin, said that violations of the state’s property laws by real estate practitioners is responsible for the menace of building collapse in the state.
He projected that Lagos would host no less than 30 million residents by 2035, which he said would pose challenges to affordable housing, given the limited land mass of the state.
He said, “It is pertinent to state that the increasing building collapses and demolitions clearly shows that the practitioners are not building in compliance with regulatory, especially with regard to building approvals, environmental standards, energy efficiency and quality of material.
“Therefore, the need for us as a government to continuously advocate, monitor and enforce where necessary, the extant regulations and standards become necessary with the application of innovation and quality control strategies and technologies.”
The summit featured three panel sessions where industry experts dissected innovation and quality control and how they would shape the future of the industry.
According to Tola Akinhanmi, Head of Real Estate Finance, West Africa at Stanbic IBTC, noted that unstable interest rates in the last 10 years had impacted cross-border transactions, and advised domestic based real estate practitioners to avoid borrowing in foreign currency, especially when they are not earning the needed forex to off-set such dollar obligations.
On his part, Gbenga Ismail, Principal Partner Ismail & Partners, called on government to address the issues of proper land titling, tax regime, and convenient repatriation of funds to increase investments in the industry.
He said regulation should focus more on boosting investors’ confidence as no investor would invest without critically examining the challenges that could hamstring such investment.
The second panel discussion on ‘Real Estate Investment Approaches’. leading the discussion,
Chukwudi Ubosi, Principal Partner, Ubosi Eleh & Co, argued that real estate is an asset class of choice, especially via the instrumentality of land banking.
He posited that despite the availability of private equity in real estate, developers continued to struggle to deliver off-plans due to the rising cost of construction.
Adeniyi Aromolaran, the Executive Director of Lagos State Development and Property Corporation noted that conventional building methods must adapt to usability and adaptability.
According to him, construction costs are sky-rocketing due to inflation, and urged operators to embrace creative financing to shoulder construction costs.
Grace Ofure, the CEO of Lifecard International lamented that construction projects that cater for the needs of the aged have not been given adequate attention, even as lack of collaboration and unhealthy competition stifled growth of the real estate industry.
In his contribution, Udo Okonjo, Managing Director of Fine & Country West Africa, stressed the need to embrace change and innovation in what he referred to as an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous business environment.
The third panel session dealt with ‘Real Estate Emerging Technologies.’ the lead discussant, Jide Odusolu, who is the Managing Director of Octo 5 Holding, noted that many of the transactions in the real estate sector are informal, making access to reliable data difficult.
He urged industry players not to view emerging prop-tech platforms as adversaries, but as groups that help with the collation of useful data and insights about the industry.
The Co-founder of VENCO Africa, Chude Osiegbu expressed worry that the prop-tech sector is currently facing a challenge of talent.
Also speaking, the Head, Department of Estate, Lead City University, Igho Fayomi stated that technology had engendered many changes in the real estate sector in recent years.