lawyer:

Its only in Nigeria that things are extremely topsy turvey in relation to buying properties more especially in Lagos. The truth is that the people to blame are the land speculators and the purchasers who are ready to jump into a high catchment area or percieved choice future area thereby driving the prices higher.

For example, look at the Lekki/Ajah Axis:

Most of the lands there are being owned by traditional families and prior to the forceful takeover of that place by the government in 1994, lands there were selling for a mere N5,000. Now property speculators, corporate bodies, well to do citizens of Nigeria and a host of others want a piece of the good life now. Places like Ikate Elegushi, Agungi, Ikota, Badore now command high price fees for lands that were bought for less than N1,000,000 3 years ago.

The latest mad rush now is to buy a land at Ogombo village, Sangotedo, langbassa etc. These lands costs less than N3million at most or better still N1million but by 2010, they will jump to N5MILLION and by 2012 it will cost N10million for a land there because people are moving there in droves and they see developing amenities that will attract them.

Some people rush to buy these lands so that they can make a profit off it in future and they are the land speculators who drive up the prices. Sometimes i think it is a good idea for people to just buy these lands for cheap and later sell when they have the time and resources to purchase them now but then again, its negative aspect is that they help drive up the prices in future. So it has it advantages and disadvantages.

The only problem i have seen from my own little experience in these matters is that land speculators who buy these lands from the traditional families for cheap end up buying wrong properties with very very defective titles and when they discover the problem, they are quick to put it on the market for another unsuspecting buyer to purchase and walk away with a very handsome profit.

If purchasers pay a closer look to the title and do their own searches, it is a better way to drive down the price if found defective or unattractive because the seller is eager to sell no matter what. I have seen cases where a land has been advertised for N5Million and upon prompt search and investigation, i found out it had a defective title, i was forced to renegotiate that land to N1.8million and helped the person get a good title with an extra N350,000 at alausa hereby saving almost N2.5million for the purchaser. Its another way to drive down the prices

Other situations crop up when the buyer is so stubborn and adamant that he/she must buy a property or land in a high brow area. There are so many mitigating reasons the prices will be unilaterally high and beyond his reach. What they are marketing to you is just branding and not substance it self and buyers should be very wary of it.

Finally the last reason prices jump up is basically due to the fault of estate agents. In law there is what is known as GAZUMPING

Gazumping is a trick estate agents use to over price the property when there is no reason to increase it. For example, you negotiate with the agent for a land going for N1Million naira, you do your statutory investigation and searches on the land and you have intention to buy it and promise to pay a deposit while your solicitor is handling all the paper work to transfer it to you, then you recieve a call from the agent that another person is interested in that same property and he is willing to pay N2million Naira for it and unless you increase your offer, the property wouldnt be transfered to you.

Panic sets in and you begin to run helter skelter to try and make sense of what just happened and you are ready to offer the agent another N500,000 just to make sure that the property is yours because you really like it and you have already spent money on the search.

The truth is, you have just fallen for one of the greatest real estate scams of the millineium. The aim is to push up the prices of that property and make sure you over value that property for the next victim. Usually they select a person to act as the new buyer who is bidding for the same property with you and he is ready to show that he can pay it.

The solution to this is very simple. YOU WALK AWAY! Forget that you have done the search and expended a little money. Be rest assurd the agent will call you very soon to re-explain things to you why the offer to that new person didnt go through and why your the favoured candidiate to buy it back at N1Million.

Agents live on the patronage of buyers and not the other way around. If they sense your too panicky, too enthusiastic, too forth coming, discussing money issues that favors them, then your are in for a big ride with them. Always involve your Property Lawyer when you want to buy a land because they are used to these tricks and will advise you accordingly. If you follow these simple rules, the property crash your expecting will happen. If you walk away, be rest assured that there are other lands out there, more cheaper, better agents looking to do business with you and more security.

You might feel aggrieved that you didnt get that choice area you wanted but remember where ever you end up getting will be the choice area for another person to admire. At least its your money, so spend it wisely and cheaply!

Cheers!

Others are addicted to marijuana or cocaine but I am addicted to nairaland.

Thanks a lot to lawyer for that information. I t just happened recently.

Due to the problems we have here in the UK and USA. My Nigerian brothers and Sisters are pumping money into properties at home. Especially Land. At NairaInvestors.com we don't even have space on our books. So i don't know where the property crash in Niaja is coming from.

The trick to Investing in Naija is buy cheap land in Lagos axis and Hold. In a few years time, my brother , you won't want to sell.

lawyer nice one!

There is simple mathematics to this whole thing, "No money = price crash". Just as the stock market in Nigeria, which was based ona alot of speculation crashed, so will the housing market, especially in Lagos need to correct itself. Let us forget that there is not true measure on how house prices rise in Nigeria.

We are a single income economy, oil price is down to a 3rd of what it was about same time last year, and I honestly do not see it rising fast in the near future, Nigerias economy is not doing well at all, so I fail to see were the interest to start paying high prices will come from.

We have a habit in our country of not facing up to the truth. The current property position is not sustainable, it must correct.

monkeyleg:

There is simple mathematics to this whole thing, "No money = price crash". Just as the stock market in Nigeria, which was based ona alot of speculation crashed, so will the housing market, especially in Lagos need to correct itself. Let us forget that there is not true measure on how house prices rise in Nigeria.

We are a single income economy, oil price is down to a 3rd of what it was about same time last year, and I honestly do not see it rising fast in the near future, Nigerias economy is not doing well at all, so I fail to see were the interest to start paying high prices will come from.

We have a habit in our country of not facing up to the truth. The current property position is not sustainable, it must correct.

Obviously, you're not into any form of business. You depend on salaries, thats why you are complaining.
There are people in nigeria who dont depend on stealing govt. funds, or monthly salaries who are also buying up land in Lagos, and elsewhere.
True, business is not as "sweet" as it was but many people are making money. I've made over a million naira in just the first quater of this year bro.
My advice is to arrange your self and buy land somewhere you can afford. Simple.

samparian,

the problem we have always had in Nigeria is that people are not used to facing up to the truth even when facts are so glaring. The fact that a few business people can afford to buy land and property does not represent growth. I will wait to see who they sell it to. What will happen is that people who think they have money will buy high and be forced to sell low.

dont get carried away with the artificial boom, it will have to correct itself at some point just as stocks and shares are doing right now in Nigeria. You know there were probably people like you who felt that the nigerian stock market would continue as it did, but there you have it.

if you must know, i didnt loose a dime in Stocks. I bought in the initial offers 10 naira 90 kobo ( i think) and when the prices climbed to 36 naira, i sold off all my shares.
A wise old man told me that the second best investment in life is Landed properties. The first is investment in people.
The wise man bought his first plot of Land in Lagos in 1945! when VI was all bush and nothing. He told me that people who bought land in Surulere were laughed at then.
Stocks are companies which can fold at any time if not run properly.
Why be a shareholder, when i can own my personal company.
Read this book, RICH DAD, POOR DAD. it helped me a lot.

I dont buy land to sell.
i buy to develope and rent out.

will price of anything ever come down in nigeria?

No, not right now. Unless things change for the better.
Nigeria is highly dependent on imported stuff. We dont make any reasonable thing because of lack of power supply.
The dollar is on the rise and everything works with the rise of dollar.
Cement price has gone up
Rice has gone up
Poor men dont even drink garri any more! Imagine!!!!!!!!!!
how will the price of things come down??
prices of houses are high, house rents are being increased annually and someone is talking of property price crash?? in your dreams

the fact is that property prices will not crash in nigeria, at least not at this period where the stock market is a no- go area. the property and real estate market is brimming with opportunities for Nigerians who see it as an alternative to the murderous stock market. I am an investor myself and I have been closely watching the markets so i knw what I am saying here.
the big question is this- IS THERE REALLY RECESSION IN NIGERIA? everybody is just calling the word but what is really happening? how many jobs are being lost in nigeria? how many companies or even industries are recording losses? check our releases from the Stock Exchange Market. most companies are still doing well and recording increamental profits/earnings

mjbaba:

the fact is that property prices will not crash in nigeria, at least not at this period where the stock market is a no- go area. the property and real estate market is brimming with opportunities for Nigerians who see it as an alternative to the murderous stock market. I am an investor myself and I have been closely watching the markets so i knw what I am saying here.
the big question is this- IS THERE REALLY RECESSION IN NIGERIA? everybody is just calling the word but what is really happening? how many jobs are being lost in nigeria? how many companies or even industries are recording losses? check our releases from the Stock Exchange Market. most companies are still doing well and recording increamental profits/earnings

I 'gbadun' you. Nigeria has been in recession since 1982, people can take it or leave it. We are so used to living the hard way that we are 'effectively' shielded from the present global crunch. No rapid job losses, no company closing down, etc so no recession.
Recession is just in words, and maybe with the govt funds (as reduction in fund available for embezzling)

Re: Post
Don't wait to buy land, buy land and wait.

@Samparian
I am following your footstep,

@ adeg

Ahead ahead, my brother. better today than never

I really don't know what you guys are arguing about. The simple facts are:
Land is one of the best investments in the world, and 'normally' its value will always go up in the long run. SO regardless of any boom or bust, the value will eventally always increase.

Second, whenever there is a boom of any sort, its always followed by a bust (check your history). All booms are artficial and fuelled by certain conditions, speculators, laws etc. Eventually, the system must correct itself.

Further, someone mentioned something about Nigerians out here pumping cash into property. Yes we may be, but then most of us are aware the prices will soon crash, and are waiting.

I am repasting this article so as to provide you with enough avenues of awareness about "Matters of the Moment"

I wish every property advertiser would simply furnish prospective buyers especially those living abroad with pictures of what they have for sale. The difference between a "somebody" and a "nobody" is that a "somebody" does what a "nobody" never fears to do. Boost your sale avenue; post pictures

The truth is that most of you sellers of estate land at Ofada/Mowo do not have something worth putting on this site as pictures for one to view. You are preoccupied with what profit you want to make at the expense of what quality of product you want to sell.

As the saying goes, "cunning man dies; cunning man buries him". This explains why 90% of those buying land in this axis buy with a view to selling in the future for abnormal profit. Like the saying "cunning man dies; cunning man buries him", the sellers have perfected legal means of reposessing your land if you do not build within a specified time frame in conjunction with with the two states government involved. Of course they promised they will refund your money. At what percentage, less original price or the future "utopian" price? Have you ever thought that you can be manipulated into huge loss? Do you know that the crash of Bank Shares in Nigeria was the very handiwork of issuers of those shares so as to acquire enough liquidity to make for the liquidity of 25 billion dollars they were mandatorilly required to deposit with the Central Bank even when economic indices were not there to support the crash? (If you believed this, why do you keep saying that property price crashes are only in credit-based economies of the likes of Asia, Americas and Europe? The fact remains that most of you only prefer to be foolishly optimistic. Read Comedies instead of Tragedies if you must read books. Remember the money you lost in shares!)

Outside banking industry, Daargroup raised billions of naira from you having promised you that you will never lose your money at N5.00. Today the share price is below N1.60K. Do you know he just took that money from you to purchase High Definition Equipment to monopolise that sector of industry. In the same vein, it is possible to lose you hard-earned money if some of this mushroom estate developers transfer their estate to a mega developer who never signed up to what you beat your chest about as your document. Besides, the banks that gave them the fund to "invent" these inferior estates may start the process of repossessing them. The agents you are dealing with today would have fled or tell you they were only agents living on commission. However, there are some developers in this area who have the fund to develop enviable estates, for some, you will never get 10% of what they promised you

Be wise! If you want to enjoy your land, start looking for fund to build now so as to secure it, otherwise, sooner or later, you will lose it. The most foolish person now is the guy who buys more land with the aim of wanting the price to go up in the future before he sells. I bet you, he will surely regret!

Prices will go down but not the demand.

The melt down is here but real estate has another dynamics.

The developing areas is still in high demand especially where the C.OF.O is available.

However, be careful while buying landed properties. Few cash paid to a PROFESSIONAL lawyer will save you some stress.

Till date there is no option against real estate. Key in as soon as you can.

Some very good points of view so far covering both sides of the argument.  My own take is, property prices will adjust in Lagos whether we like it or not.  Speculation and some key individuals driving up the market by colluding e.g. I ask my rich friend to buy my Ikoyi property off me for 200 million even though its worth 100 million, next person that'll offer in that region will pay 250 million that way myself and my friend have made a healthy killing.  Such individuals will get funding from banks to jack up their prices.  Also, the stock market and margin lending, I invest 10 million in the stock market the bank matches it and gives me 20 million, stock market crashes and I have to pay back 10 million to my bank including my loss of 10 million, maybe I'll consider selling that land/property I've always speculated on for discount since no one can get ridiculous credit from the banks to buy off me.  All the above, show how a credit crises in the banks will lead to some correction.

Taking a global perspective, Nigeria with limited infastructure - electricity, roads, safety, education, tourism has no real basis for where the prices seat at the moment and will correct itself, even extremely developed Dubai which can be compared to Lagos in its type of boom has lost momentum and is getting some correction.  If I bought a flat/house in Lagos and rented it out, there is no legal system to protect me if the tennants don't pay and ruin my property, if I do the same in London or New york, I'll be safe legally.  For this reason, Lagos doesn't really offer a straightforward investment as there are so many risks attached to it.

Finally, Investments focus on payback periods so the moment I buy a property for 40 million and it'll only command 1 million a year in rent, there is a problem, it'll take it 40 years to pay itself back excluding maintenance costs, that doesn't sound like a very viable investment, I should be looking at real estate from a 15-25 year payback timeline, this is what reflects what the true value of that property is, this presents a good way for people to value the property they are buying if in fact they choose to invest in Lagos, a market that goes against the trend of all other global capitals.

This is a very interesting topic. My take is very simple: If the ROI(Return on Investment) will take more than 15-20years to recoupe all my invested income, i will look seriously into something else or at least look CRITICALLY into what i am doing/about to do.

Why should anyone put money on a "flat" that will take 30-35years to recoup the funds i am putting in today? Sure there will be rent adjustments upward however dont forget that your present fund has a future upwards adjustment also if you do it properly. i.e your present money should appreciate if you put it in lets say a fixed deposit or a stock of a viable company.

Nigerians have a HERD MENTALITY. Many people do things that they dont understand or why they are doing it. Hence all these wild prices and panic mentality. Some of these prices are so incredibly unreasonable i cant begin to make sense of it.

Real estate grow and increases in value through the countless days.Though seem dormant ,but the worth increases,never falling like, Sto, ,  ,never ceasing,time is the aid and populations heaps up its gain.
Real estate is good investment,no mater how small the investment is,doesnt mater the location,development get to everywhere,its mater of time.Nigeria property mkt is not falling now,people are still making more income on it.

People in Naija don't understand why people abroad putting money into properties at home. Number 1 reason, Taxes. Abroad you are taxed when you earn, spend, save and die. Nigeria is a tax save haven.

siparaporo:

I am repasting this article so as to provide you with enough avenues of awareness about "Matters of the Moment"

I wish every property advertiser would simply furnish prospective buyers especially those living abroad with pictures of what they have for sale. The difference between a "somebody" and a "nobody" is that a "somebody" does what a "nobody" never fears to do. Boost your sale avenue; post pictures

The truth is that most of you sellers of estate land at Ofada/Mowo do not have something worth putting on this site as pictures for one to view. You are preoccupied with what profit you want to make at the expense of what quality of product you want to sell.

As the saying goes, "cunning man dies; cunning man buries him". This explains why 90% of those buying land in this axis buy with a view to selling in the future for abnormal profit. Like the saying "cunning man dies; cunning man buries him", the sellers have perfected legal means of reposessing your land if you do not build within a specified time frame in conjunction with with the two states government involved. Of course they promised they will refund your money. At what percentage, less original price or the future "utopian" price? Have you ever thought that you can be manipulated into huge loss? Do you know that the crash of Bank Shares in Nigeria was the very handiwork of issuers of those shares so as to acquire enough liquidity to make for the liquidity of 25 billion dollars they were mandatorilly required to deposit with the Central Bank even when economic indices were not there to support the crash? (If you believed this, why do you keep saying that property price crashes are only in credit-based economies of the likes of Asia, Americas and Europe? The fact remains that most of you only prefer to be foolishly optimistic. Read Comedies instead of Tragedies if you must read books. Remember the money you lost in shares!)

Outside banking industry, Daargroup raised billions of naira from you having promised you that you will never lose your money at N5.00. Today the share price is below N1.60K. Do you know he just took that money from you to purchase High Definition Equipment to monopolise that sector of industry. In the same vein, it is possible to lose you hard-earned money if some of this mushroom estate developers transfer their estate to a mega developer who never signed up to what you beat your chest about as your document. Besides, the banks that gave them the fund to "invent" these inferior estates may start the process of repossessing them. The agents you are dealing with today would have fled or tell you they were only agents living on commission. However, there are some developers in this area who have the fund to develop enviable estates, for some, you will never get 10% of what they promised you

Be wise! If you want to enjoy your land, start looking for fund to build now so as to secure it, otherwise, sooner or later, you will lose it. The most foolish person now is the guy who buys more land with the aim of wanting the price to go up in the future before he sells. I bet you, he will surely regret!

All you need to do is ask. and someone will be at hand to educate you. Sample of what you are looking for is here. Videos as well look here www.Nairainvestors.com

pumping in to my properties market.i base in Abuja.let do deals but i might be a player.that what keep the business running.call 08033054149.

buy properties in Abuja

BAC
Wondering how you would respond to :
Finding money
Getting out of debt

Please stay on topic and stop placing classified ads in this thread. You can create your own thread to promote your business.

Any classified advert i see here will be moved away or probably sent to the trash bin! The topic is about property crash price in Lagos and not for you to derail it with links to websites or property adverts!

Please lets allow decorum to reign!

Cheers

Mr lawyer,
   What is your problem. do you know what a waste bin mean?

This continues to be a no brainier market as far as I am concerned, where if you can get hold of t vacant blocks and organise a house to be built, and the as completed market value shows a spread of anything from $70k to $150k, then its pretty simple.I am still looking towards a 10 yr 'construction' horizon and feel that yo can safely invest for the next 2 to 3 and make some decent returns.

Lagos Nigeria real estate market is a vast property market where a newcomer can easily get lost and deceived by swindlers property scammers.Lagos Nigeria are everywhere. Lose your guard and you risk losing your hard earned money.