The Nigerian real estate sector is now seen by investors as turning the corner for the better, as the country’s economy appears to be emerging from recession.
Following up on this, industry stakeholders will gather at the West Africa Property Investment Summit from September 28 to 29, 2017 at the Eko Hotel in Lagos, to discuss ways to overcome current obstacles and uncover the countless opportunities across Nigeria and the broader West African region.
Elizabeth Haskins, the head of marketing and operations for API Events, Africa’s leading real estate conferencing company, who are organizers of the West Africa Property Investment Summit (WAPI), announced the date for the summit in a statement on Monday.
“With a population of over 185 million people, strong real estate development fundamentals and a +6% contribution of real estate to GDP, we believe in the long-term potential of Nigeria’s real estate sector and are excited to host our conference in Lagos,” said Kfir Rusin, the managing director of API Events.
“Whilst there have been some short-term headwinds there are encouraging signs of market improvement and the summit will provide a vehicle in driving back prosperity into the local and regional property market,” he added.
The conference aims to restore global confidence in Nigeria’s real estate sector, identify critical factors for survival and growth in a recession, highlight new funding and building solutions tailored to West Africa’s property market, and uncover emerging and untapped opportunities within the West African market.
It also aims to define a new agenda for private and public-sector partnership as a bolster for growth in the local and regional property market, outline a sustainable framework for pricing rent and services in West African retail, create a platform for dialogue and knowledge sharing between local and international stakeholders, and improve market transparency and efficiency through regulations, data capture, technology and government interventions.
With participation from over 350 delegates and 175 companies the WAPI Summit will offer insights, thought-leadership and solution-focused tools with an emphasis on driving further development and investment in the local and regional real estate market.
Key focus areas will include debt and lease restructuring in a recession, managing FX risks, uncovering emerging asset classes, navigating the new normal in West African retail, improvements in the ease of doing business and jumpstarting the Nigerian housing finance market, among other things.
The easing of inflationary pressure, improved investment inflows, increased oil production and an improvement of foreign exchange liquidity, have all contributed to a positive growth outlook for the country.
Nigeria has faced strong headwinds in the past two years, but the currency uncertainty and falling oil price and production that have weighed heavily on consumer confidence are giving way.
The World Bank predicted an exit from recession this year and economic growth of 1%, which was later reviewed to 1.2% by mid-year.
The trend towards recovery is permeating throughout West Africa with the Ivory Coast and Senegal showing continued growth and Ghana’s peaceful elections cementing the country’s political and democratic maturity.
This bodes well for business in Ghana as the International Monetary Fund has pegged the country’s GDP growth at around 6% for the year.
Once the darling of African real estate, the sentiment for West Africa has been largely negative over the last two years.
The WAPI Summit will provide the perfect platform for initiating a dialogue between West Africa’s private and public sectors, and specifically, the co-ordination of public infrastructure development with local and global real estate investment.
“This presents Nigeria and the West African region with an opportunity to re-invigorate the country’s commercial and residential real estate sectors, and once again position itself as the number one investment destination for local and global capital,” Rusin assured.
Key government stakeholders from the federal ministry of power, works and housing, ministry for industry, trade and investment, Lagos State ministry of physical planning and urban development, as well as the Nigeria Investment Promotion Centre are expected to attend and share insights on government projects relevant to the real estate sector.
Key sponsors at this year’s event include Broll Property Group, Landmark Africa, Stanbic IBTC, Cushman Wakefield Excellerate, JLL, UPDC, Rendeavour, EMC-RE, Trollope Property Services, Fahrenheit Hospitality Limited, Profica and Crystal Lagoons.
Industry Partners are Northcourts, Detail Solicitors, Latitude Five, Cube Square Concepts Projects Ltd, ESTATE INTEL, RELAN, FIABCI, RICS and AUHF.
