The Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers (NIESV) has said difficulties in accessing land titles pose a serious impediment to housing development in the country and urged the Federal Government to address bottlenecks in order to make land easily accessible.
The Institution noted that achieving the dream of affordable housing in the country would be illusive if the key factors that make up the production of any form of real estate development such as land, capital and manpower, are not addressed.
Speaking at the opening of corporate headquarters of Ayeye and Co in Abuja, NIESV 2nd Vice President, Rowland Abonta, observed that government’s vision of providing affordable housing for Nigerians would only be achieved if government begins to provide infrastructure in all its layouts and make them accessible to the common man, so that they will take advantage of such plots and begin to build.
He said: “People need to have easy access to buildable plots because it is not all plots that are buildable. Buildable plots are the ones that have access roads, electricity, water supply and other infrastructure provided, so that when we pump more housing units into the market particularly in the medium and low-income sector, accommodation prices will come down. Presently, so many estates exist without basic infrastructure.”
Abonta noted that security challenges facing the country have affected the real estate sector, especially residential office accommodations. He said: “No one is sure of where can be described as a safe place to stay in any state in our nation including Abuja. The security problem in the country is affecting our professional practice. We have seen offices vacated because they are located in areas that have been attacked in recent times. In some of the major cities, like Maiduguri and Yobe, property market has closed because you hardly see people moving in. It’s when people come into town that they seek accommodation. Insecurity in the country is hitting hard on the real estate sector.”
On the high number of vacant house as well as the high cost of rent in Abuja, Abonta said: “This is a paradox. We have a huge number of vacant houses in the city yet the rent is high. One would have thought that supply would force prices to go down but it is not so because there is pressure at the low and medium income housing sector in the country. A lot of people in that category cannot afford their own personal accommodation, so they depend on the rental market. And if in that sector, there are so many pursuing few accommodations, the price goes as high as it does. Also, most of such houses were built by the rich who neither borrowed the money nor suffered so much for it, so they can afford to lock them up. Government should start imposing taxes on any accommodation that stays vacant up to one year. It would help to address the issue of huge number of vacant houses in the Federal Capital Territory.”
