Authorities of Denaro Properties, a real estate investment and development company in Lagos, say they are defying challenges imposed on businesses by the biting impact of Nigeria’s economy and delivering value to Nigerians looking for homes to buy.
The authorities note that real estate is very sensitive to the state of the economy which is why the sector is groaning under the weight of adverse macroeconomic conditions such as high energy costs, volatile exchange rate regimes, hyper-inflation, and high building materials prices, among others.
The company assured its numerous customers and other stakeholders that, in spite of the economic situation, they will continue to deliver products and services to the market for the benefit of everybody who craves quality at affordable prices.
The company is, however, optimistic with a long-term view of the property market, hence the projection of a stable real estate sector going into the new year on the back of the various reforms introduced into the economy by the ‘new’ government in the country.
Babajide Ogunleye, the CEO of the company, noted in his address at their end-of-the-year get-together recently that the reforms that the new administration has introduced are expected to yield positive results, beginning from the new year.
“The election season is over and reforms like the removal of subsidy, and the stability of the Naira through the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will make next year better,” he said.
President Bola Tinubu removed the controversial fuel subsidy on the day of his inauguration in May. Prior to this, the last administration had spent over N11 trillion to keep the subsidy standing but said it was no longer sustainable.
Tinubu’s administration also floated the naira to close the disparity in the official and parallel markets.
The CEO revealed that Denaro Properties was committed to rebranding the housing landscape in Lagos mainland through innovation, noting that this has had a positive impact on families.
Talking about the challenges faced this year, Ogunleye said that two major issues robbed the sector of expected growth in 2023. “The real estate sector witnessed turbulence in the continuous fluctuations in the price of building materials, which rendered budgeting useless.
“Also, we have an issue of insecurity, which doesn’t build confidence in investors investing in Nigeria, especially Nigerians in Diaspora. So those are two major challenges that we face in the sector,” he said.
Taiwo Akindele, Admin/Legal executive at the company, said that 2023 was turbulent for all the players in the sector—from the surveyors, architects, and engineers to agents, bricklayers, tillers, plumbers, etc.
In addition, she said the rising cost of materials and inflation dented some of the targets set for this year but, “we’re optimistic that next year will be better and everything will be stable.”
Nigeria’s consumer prices rose 28.2 percent in November largely on the back of the continued naira depreciation and higher fuel prices, highlighting the dire state of the economy ahead of Christmas.
The Consumer Price Index report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday showed that inflation rose to a new 18-year high by an increase of 0.87 percent to 28.20 from 27.33 percent in the previous month.
Source: Business Day
