As Nigeria and Ghana’s economies continue to diversify, the countries property sectors are once again attractive to regional and international real estate investors, says Kfir Rusin, the Managing Director of API Events, the host of the 5th West Africa Property Investment (WAPI) Summit.
According to him, “these markets have progressed and evolved amid tough trading conditions,” adding that this year’s theme, ‘Uncovering the Next Real Estate Investment Cycle’, was developed with buy-in from local and international stakeholders, who believe that West African Real Estate is now increasingly attractive to DFI’s, private equity firms, institutional and global investors.”
With more than 400 delegates attending and 70 speakers confirmed, including several globally respected thought leaders, this year’s WAPI Summit will again advance the real estate agenda across the West African real estate value chain. This year’s global investment keynote speaker is REITWAY Global’s Chief Investment Officer, Garreth Elston.
With more than $75million under management, Elston said while REITWAY Global’s investment strategy is focused on global listed property stocks, he is beginning to prioritise emerging asset classes.
“We invest across the full spectrum of global listed property companies, currently this is in excess of 20 sectors and sub-sectors. We have a particular focus at the current moment on logistics and warehousing, as well as technology sectors such as data centres and communication towers,” he said.
With investment in warehousing and data centres by WAPI Summit, stakeholders such as Agility Africa and Rendeavour; the region’s real estate ecosystem is increasingly diversified and sophisticated, yet requires transparency, regulatory and policy certainty to attract and retain investment, Rusin said. A process of formalisation, which is a key focus for API Events across Africa and a measurable outcome of each successive WAPI Summit over the past five years.
Despite growing sophistication and development in the regional market, West Africa’s markets need to take note that competition for investment is hyper-competitive and jurisdictionally agnostic says Elston.