Though it may not be clearly noticed, activities in the political arena have slowed down professional activities in the real estate industry going by the assertions of experts in the built environment.

Most operators in real estate have continued to complain of low patronage as a result of deflation in the economy except for election programmes. Some of the experts who spoke to Daily Sun PropertyMart said that aside “body language”, those who have money are channeling it into electioneering campaigns with a view to recoup after elections.

According to Mr. Isaac Onyenweife, politicians are investing heavily in their preferred candidates with intention that when they get onboard, they will make up what they spent during the campaigns.

“You know that real business men and women do not have boundaries when it comes to business investments. So, some rich men who hitherto patronised real estate business have all diverted their attention to politics and that is having a great toll on real estate. Nigerians invest blindly. If Okeke is making it in this business, every other person moves into Okeke’s business. That should not be so. You should mind your business. Everybody must not be in one business,” he said.

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Some other interested persons in the business noted that the sector has witnessed low patronage since the inception of the present administration. He maintained that it has been so since the advent of this administration. According to an Abuja-based estate surveyor and valuer, who spoke to one of the national dailies, Mr. Eric Okafor, the situation is better experienced than imagined, as property investments are on decline, and many void properties existed. He stated that this month’s elections would not help matters because investors are apprehensive of the aftermath of the elections.

According to him, “after the polls, we hope more people will relocate to Abuja city. And more confidence would have been built, and there will be investment again because the political atmosphere would by then be certain.”

Similarly, Mopelola Kola-Lawal of Modaville Realties Plus, speaking to the same national daily, said real estate industry was a major contributor to the economy in 2018, as Lagos continues to be the most active state of the federation. She said the reasons are not far fetched, with the world urbanisation study prospects that Lagos would be the 9th largest city in the world by 2030. This continues to heap the gain of real estate in the state.

“The country still requires 17 to 20 million housing units to address the housing deficit, with the yearly demand of N1 million houses compared with annual supply of only 100,000 units.”