Multi-Billion Dollar Projects
No other investment can give the level of immunity to all this uncertainty and appreciable returns like the real estate sector. Lagos, especially strategic areas such as the Lekki-Epe Corridor, guarantees no less than 500% value appreciation on real estate within a five-year time frame; and this of course depends on specifics such as area, type of investment, etc. In Ibeju-Lekki, for instance, a property I acquired for a client in May 2019 has already appreciated by 150% due to the impact of the Lekki Free Zone. The LFZ is meant to reduce trade barriers between Nigeria and other developed countries whereby expertriates of different countries like China, UK,US,Dubai e.t.c would be coming to work here.
Therefore, there will be a rise demand for residential properties in this area.
Recent Economic Recession
As COVID-19 ravages the world and a global recession has been announced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Nigerian economy is expected to be severely affected, especially as the price of crude oil is expected to drop below $15 per barrel. Investors in the LFZ, according to economists, are therefore going to benefit from the fact that transactions within the zone, as applicable to free trade zones, are made in the international currency of trade – USD. On March 30, in a move that stakeholders say points to the economic potentials of the zone, the Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited received $221 million in equity funding from China Harbour Engineering Company, one of the shareholders of the seaport project. This fund injection coming during a time that the world, and particularly China, battles the pandemic, reaffirms the fact that daring investors will not allow COVID-19 stop them. For people sitting at home and restless but unwilling to allow this crisis period be a wasted one, investing in real estate either within or around the Lekki Free Zone is the perfect place to put your money and grow it. Of course, things have slowed down all round, but we are noticing a growing level of enquiries as the smart ones realise this is perhaps the only sector that offers some form of immunity to the coronavirus (pandemic).
