₦airaland Forum

After joining the ranks of JSE-listed property companies in December, Pivotal Property Fund (Pivotal) is growing its exposure outside South Africa, for now focusing on Nigeria.

Pivotal announced on Wednesday that it plans to acquire a 37.1% shareholding in ‘The Wings’ an office block development in Lagos, Nigeria, valued at $104 million (R1.2 billion). This will be in partnership with multinational energy group Oando and real estate company RMB Westport. An official of RMB Westport confirmed the transaction, saying, “the transaction is between one of RMB Westport’s other partners in The Wings project, and...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/pivotal-property-fund-eyes-nigeria-set-to-acquire-37-stake-in-the-wings/

Indigenes of the host communities to the Dangote Cement Plc, in Ibese, Yewa and Ewekoro, in Ogun State, are in for better times, as the cement company announced the inauguration of some 19 different corporate social responsibility (SCR) projects for the communities.

In what is regarded as a major boost to the CSR profile of the leading cement manufacturer, the projects include water, education, electricity, roads, information technology (IT) etc.

It would be recalled that the company had, some years ago, instituted scholarships for the...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/dangote-unveils-19-projects-for-ogun-communities/

In selling, buying or leasing a property, you usually require the services of an agent or broker and a lawyer. Although some people conduct real estate transactions without the services of these people because of the fees usually attached, industry experts believe it is better to engage them rather than not since they make the job easier, know the going rate of properties within the area and can offer professional advice that can save you money and untold trouble later.

When dealing with untrained agents or quacks in Nigeria you are usually asked to register for a certain fee and told to pay what is referred to as mobilization fee. This fee is not inclusive in the commission the agent gets when a transaction is finalized and money is paid. The mobilization fee is ...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/estate-agent-feescommissions-matters-arising/

No helicopters, no mega yachts. At first glance, Indian Creek is just a small private island in Biscayne Bay. But South Florida real estate agent Cory Waldman begs to differ.

“It’s a city within a city,” the Coldwell Banker associate said. “They have their own police force. The lot sizes are enormous. It’s top-notch.”

Across the country, luxury real estate agent Kofi Natei Nartey has a similar reaction—but not about Indian Creek.

“Beverly Park is the most exclusive gated community in Los Angeles,” The Agency‘s Sports & Entertainment Division director said. “With guard-gated access only, it attracts some of the highest net worth individuals and celebrities in the world.”

They’re not exaggerating. New data shows Indian Creek Island Road and ...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/americas-most-expensive-residential-streets/

The management of the Lekki Port Lagos Free Trade Zone Enterprise has announced the commencement of work on the construction of the N325bn Lekki seaport situated in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State.

The total value of the marine and land infrastructure for the L port was given as N156bn.

The contractors for the project, the EPC Contractors and China Harbour Engineering LFTZ Enterprise, received an advance payment of N1.42bn from the Lagos State Government at a ceremony held in Lekki on Saturday.

The event was attended by the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Alhaji Sanusi Bayero; Head, Corporate Finance, Standard Chartered Bank, West Africa, Mr. Leke Ogunlewe; Lagos State Commissioner for...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/construction-work-begins-on-325b-lekki-seaport/

Eager to bring sanity to land administration, especially payment of compensation on excised land in Lagos, the state authorities last week, presented Certificates of Occupancy to representatives of land owning families of 40 excised villages.

Governor Babatunde Fashola, who spoke at the Lagos House, Ikeja at the presentation said government decided to hold the meeting because excision issue had dragged for a while in the State and that the present administration was determined to bring such matters to a close as far as it relates to payment of compensation.

“This compensation issues have taken a while, so it is important for all of us to understand ourselves. What you people should have received might be money for acquisition that...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/40-families-get-certificates-of-occupancy-in-lagos/

The Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company and Eko Electricity Distribution Company account for over 40 per cent of power consumption in Nigeria, Vice-President Namadi Sambo has said.

This, he said was understandable from the fact that Lagos, which used to be the country’s political capital before Abuja, remained Nigeria’s commercial and industrial hub with a large concentration of industries in the state and the adjoining Ogun State.

Sambo spoke at the unveiling of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited Oke-Aro 330/132kV transmission substation under the National Integrated Power Projects in Lagos on Friday.

Oke-Aro is situated in a border line between Lagos and Ogun states, and ...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/lagos-consumes-40-of-power-generated-nationally-sambo/

“A green office communicates to employees that their employer cares about them and their welfare,” said the study’s co-author, Alex Haslam, a psychology professor. “Office landscaping helps the workplace become a more enjoyable, comfortable and profitable place to be.”

The study — purportedly the first-ever to assess the long-term effects of green surroundings on productivity — focused on three workspaces in the UK and the Netherlands.

Minimalist offices were spruced up with...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/study-shows-office-plants-can-boost-productivity-and-morale/

The Chief Executive Officer, Dangote Cement Plc, Mr. Onne van der Weijde, has said the cement producer’s expansion projects in Africa have started contributing to its revenue growth.

Weijde said this following the release of the company’s unaudited results for the first quarter of 2015, which showed significant increase in profit.

The group is executing an expansion plan in 16 African countries outside Nigeria, which is expected to greatly increase its market share and returns when completed.

With some of the projects under the expansion plan yet to...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/dangote-cements-african-projects-already-supporting-growth-ceo/

The Managing Director, United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited, Mr. Olivier Lenoir, has said that the company’s N9bn evacuation road project in Cross River State has created 380 indirect jobs for local artisans.

Lenoir said this at the company’s Mfamosing plant in Akamkpa Local Government Area of Cross River State during a media tour of the sole-funded line II and evacuation road projects.

The Managing Director said the 20-kilometre asphalted road, comprising 88 culverts an...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/unicems-n9bn-road-projects-creates-380-jobs/

Kenya Power company said it has acquired a $10million loan facility from the United Bank of Africa (UBA) to upgrade its infrastructure to distribute 5,000MW by 2017.

The $10mn loan facility from UBA will boost the capacity of the power company’s transmission lines.
According to Kenya Power, the facility is part of a syndicated loan from a number of lenders to finance the planned infrastructure expansion. The company is Kenya’s sole power distributor.

The company said in a statement that the financing would be ...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/kenya-power-receives-10m-loan-facility-from-uba/

Over the past decade, workers and commuters in Lagos have generally become accustomed to the inherent problems that come with inadequate parking facilities. Double parking and extortion-like car parking fees are just a few of many routine practices for car owners across the city. However with over 100,000sqm of prime purpose built office space expected in the next 12 months, things are beginning to change.

Key nodes like Victoria Island and Ikeja have it relatively tough; this is because a much of the current office stock is made up of residential to office conversions. Consequently, parking for large amounts of people was not thoroughly considered. Even with the growing supply of purpose built office space, especially in Victoria Island, it is found that some developers dismiss parking facilities from their...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/office-parking-spaces-in-viikoyi-are-better-days-ahead/

entral London’s residential market has long been the focus of international interest. Headlines have highlighted the significant numbers of Russian, Middle Eastern and Chinese buyers, but a new influx of buyers and investors from Africa is now demanding attention.
Harrods Estates’ prime central London office in Mayfair has reported a 400 percent rise in sales to African buyers in the year to March 2015, compared with the previous 12 months. “The majority are looking to spend between £2.5 million and £6.5 million on a two- or three-bedroom apartment, where they can stay when visiting London on business or for pleasure,” says Shirley Humphrey, director at the agency.
“Absolute numbers are still relatively small but the growth has been quite spectacular and is continuing, exceeding the growth from any other region of the world. “African buyers are...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/nigerians-other-african-buyers-seeking-homes-in-central-london/

A fast-paced building technology which holds promise to produce houses at a speed 70 percent faster than the traditional building method has been introduced into Nigerian building industry as an initiative to support efforts at bridging the housing deficit in the country estimated at 17 million units.

The automated precast concrete technology, renowned globally for speedy housing construction, was unveiled at the just concluded Lagos Architects Forum by CTSR Group, a Nigerian company with franchise from the owners of the technology, Broad Homes Industrial International Co Limited—a subsidiary of Broad Homes Industrial Co. Limited.

Presenting the technology, Funke Otti, CTSR Group’s CEO, explained that...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/ctsr-technology-pomises-70-drop-in-construction-time/

Rapid urbanisation and growing consumer wealth on the African continent is providing numerous opportunities for investors wanting to gain exposure to retail and office property developments north of South Africa.

According to Standard Bank Head Real Estate Finance, Gary Garrett, some of the key African countries that are realising opportunities for real estate investment include Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Angola, Mozambique, Zambia and Namibia.

Foreign investment in the natural resource sectors of these economies is acting as a catalyst for economic development, boosting demand for quality office, retail and residential property space, he...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/african-retail-and-office-property-offering-significant-opportunities-for-investors/

Having invested a whopping sum of about $5 billion (about N1 trillion) in building 10 electricity generation plants, several kilometres of transmission lines and distribution facilities across Nigeria, the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited (NDPHC) has been adjudged the leading investor in the nation’s electricity industry.
NDPHC which undertakes electricity projects on behalf of the three tiers of government under the National Integrated Power Projects (NIPPs) is said to have also built several stretches of gas pipelines linking its power plants to gas production points and thus generating about 2,600 megawatts (MW) of...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/ndphc-leads-power-sector-with-5b-investment/

While clamouring for sustainable growth of the profession through new curriculum content of higher institutions and best practices, the institute is also challenging professional to acquire skills necessary to embark on any entrepreneurial endeavours

Amid gap in the educational system that fails to embrace new trends in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), members of the Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) have advocated for the review of...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/niqs-seeks-quantity-surveying-curriculum-review-in-tertiary-schools/

The Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Company, NMRC and the Nigerian Insurers Association are working to ensure title insurance is a compulsory condition for mortgage loans.

The Director-General, NIA, Mr. Sunday Thomas, disclosed this, saying that the NMRC was working with the indigenous underwriters to introduce insurance as a condition for getting mortgage loans the way it was being done in developed economies.

“We had a meeting with the management of the Mortgage Refinancing Company recently and we...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/nmrc-working-to-make-insurance-mandatory-for-loans/

The multi-billion Naira Lekki-Epe International Airport, located in the Lekki Free Trade Zone will remain the biggest uncompleted projects that the Lagos State Governor-elect, Akinwunmi Ambode, will be inheriting from Governor Babatunde Fashola, come May 29, 2015. The proposed international airport being implemented under the Public Private Partnership, PPP, is currently struggling and experiencing serious financial challenges as a result of unwillingness on the part of investors.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mrs. Sola Oworu, disclosed this current...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/investors-pull-out-causes-delay-in-n7b-lekki-epe-international-airport-project/

A milestone has been reached on the way to the completion of the $100 million Heritage Place, a world-class office development in Lagos’s commercial and residential district, with the investors symbolically marking the project’s entry into its final stage of development in a topping-out ceremony.

Slated for completion in the last quarter of this year, the fast moving construction programme will enable tenants to start their fitting out in October 2015 and be open for business in December 2015.

The topping- out ceremony, hosted by Actis, a...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/investors-celebrate-topping-out-of-100m-heritage-place-project/

International retailers are increasingly expanding into Africa, angling for a piece of the continent’s growing retail and consumer industries. By 2030 Africa’s top 18 cities will have a total spending power of US$1.3tr, according to estimates from global consulting firm McKinsey & Company.

Many have launched in South Africa with the hopes of using the rainbow nation as a springboard for pan-African growth. These include Australian fashion retailer Cotton On, British retailers H&M and Topshop, US fashion brand Forever 21, and Spanish fashion house, Zara.

“The middle class is obviously driving the formal retail sector. These guys...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/rising-urbanisation-and-growing-middle-income-class-see-investors-eyeing-more-african-retail-space/

In the heart of Surulere and specifically in the secure and tranquil neighbourhood of Census Close, off Baba Animasahun Street, a new estate is being berthed that would re-define the concept of up-class living in Surulere.

A project financed by Sterling Bank, Dayspring Gardens is made up of Twenty-Nine (29) units of tastefully designed and well...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/daysprings-gardens-discover-a-new-way-of-living-in-surulere/

Daura is a very important town not only to Katsina State but to the entire Hausa race. The town carved another niche for itself recently: it is the hometown of the President-elect, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd).

Daura, which lies in the savannah zone, occupies a very important position in the history of the Hausa. It is generally accepted as the origin of the Hausa states (Hausa Bakwai) and it had in time past been under the rule of females (Queens) known as Magajiya and others.

Daura is a predominantly Hausa/Fulani Muslim town centrally located on the northern apex of Nigeria which borders Kano, Jigawa states and Zinder in Niger Republic.

The personal residence of the President-elect in Daura is...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/presidential-bungalow-inside-buharis-simple-country-home/

With a net worth that’s estimated to be as much as $80.1 billion, Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates is the richest man in the world. Gates has exactly the kind of real-estate portfolio you would expect from a billionaire, from a Washington mansion worth $123 million to multiple horse ranches across the US.

Gates has also made several secretive purchases through his ultra-private investment firm, Cascade. It shouldn’t be too surprising that one of the wealthiest people in the world also has an insanely extravagant home.

Gates spends most of his time at his 66,000-square-foot mansion in Medina, Washington. Named Xanadu 2.0 after the fictional home of “Citizen Kane”‘s Charles Foster Kane, It took Gates seven years and $63 million to build this behemoth of a house, which is filled with lots of high-tech features. He purchased the lot for...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/the-incredible-real-estate-portfolio-of-bill-gates-the-worlds-richest-man/

Its well known that the city of Lagos is a concrete jungle with the only form of green within being glo billboards along the streets (an exaggeration, but you get my point).
Described as “NewYork on Steroids” inner city Lagos is fast moving and hectic, with very little room for outdoor relaxation by way of parks and gardens. Attempts have been made to rectify this but they are few and far between.
However a breath of fresh air, is brewing in Onikan, aptly called “GREEN WALL”.
Designed by Hub City Tech (HTL Lagos) , a team of Young, Dynamic, Nigerian Architects, the Green Wall is Located in a “tree-less” part of Lagos, Onikan to be exact, ‘surrounded’ on...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/animating-a-concrete-jungle-at-onikan-green-wall-design-by-hub-city/

Exactly 18 months from the take off time,UPDC, a frontline Property Development Company Nigeria, will be delivering the second phase of a 50-units housing project, located in a serene environment within the neighborhood of Agodi Government Reserved Area (GRA), Ibadan, Oyo State.

Work is still ongoing to ensure the delivery of the first phase proposed to be unveiled next month. As at last week, the first phase could be said to have reached about 65 per cent completion rate; and...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/updc-to-deliver-oyos-olive-court-project-in-august/

Traditional markets still trump formal retail supermarkets in Africa.

Nigeria has just a handful of formal shopping centers each with more than 10,000 square meters (107,600 square feet) of leasable space. But that’s changing. Several large malls are under construction in Nigeria.

Sixty percent of South Africans shop in formal retail supermarkets compared to 2 percent of Nigerians. A look at Nigeria’s 18 largest shopping malls now in operation or soon-to-be shows that almost every one of them is anchored by South African brands, or counts South African companies among its largest stakeholders — or both.

This article lists shopping malls in Nigeria with a...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/list-of-largest-shopping-malls-in-nigeria/

The Group Managing Director, Lafarge Africa Plc, Mr. Guillaume Roux, has said that the firm will soon start work on the site allocated to it by the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to build 500 housing units in the Federal Capital Territory.

Roux stated this in an interview with journalists during the Nigerian Institute of Architects /Lafarge Africa Plc 1st Distinguished Lecture Series 2015 delivered by a former Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, in Abuja on Thursday.

He said that one of the company’s objectives was to help build better cities in Nigeria and that the country had tremendous potential and a large housing deficit of about 18 million units.

He said, “We are currently working hand-in-hand with the government, professionals and...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/fg-to-build-500-houses-in-partnership-with-lafarge/

AN ambitious real estate project, classified under the new neighborhoods, christened as Orange Island, to cover 150 hectares of land, located within Lekki corridor in Lagos State, is already underway.

Orange Island, which is synonymous to Eko Atlantic City project, is a newly berth planned city on the Lagos lagoon, estimated to N40 billion and to accommodate 25,000 population when it is eventually delivered.

The project to be delivered in two phases has been described as one of the means by...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/work-progresses-on-40-billion-orange-island-lekki-project/

A GROWING number of wealthy individuals prefer to buy their second luxury home in Dubai and not London or Miami, with the emirate topping the chart of the ‘best of the best’ cities, reveals a report by Christie’s International Real Estate, the real estate arm of the renowned auction house.

The ‘Luxury Defined’ report found 75 per cent of global high net-worth individuals (HNWIs) bought properties in the emirate in 2014, with the average luxury prices starting from $2 million onwards – four times affordable than Los Angeles ($8 million), two times than New York ($5 million) and three times than London ($6 million).

“Of the top markets with the highest percentage of international luxury home buyers, only three of our top 10 cities ranked on the list. Dubai ranked top of all cities, with ...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/worlds-rich-favour-dubai-over-london-for-luxury-property/

Change, arguably, means different things to different people depending on prevailing circumstances, but for Nigeria and Nigerians, in the context of the new political dispensation in the country, the underlying meaning of change is simply a break from the past.

Expectations are therefore, high in this country that the incoming administration, which embodies that change, will not only concretise that break, but also define a new direction that will lead to national rebirth and economic growth.

From their respective locations and dispositions, individuals, institutions, corporate bodies and sundry businesses are examining this change mantra along with its possibilities and capabilities if ...


http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/incoming-administration-change-mantra-boosting-economyreal-estate-sector/

The illegal incursion of foreign architects into the country has continued to be a source of worry to all local architects, plying their trade in Lagos. The trend, according to them, has led to gradual erosion of area of core practice, revenue and sometimes opportunities that can favourably compete for.

This, and many other reasons, had informed the choice of discourse at this year’s Lagos Architects Forum (LAF) 6.0 – “The Business of Architecture”, which promises to be encompassing of all aspects of architecture.

According to the report from the Guardian, at a...

http://www.estatetimesnigeria.com/lagos-architects-forum-to-discuss-the-business-of-architecture/