Their apprehension also arose that several sectors have taken a heavy beating, except real estate. And with social distancing, house showings may slow down while pullback by buyers will take momentum out of the market, which could see some price falls.
In fact, some areas in Lagos market has been strong and the vacancy rates very low, but there’s no doubt coronavirus will increase caution among many buyers and encourage a lot of sellers to defer transactions. The Chairman, Nigeria Integrated Social Housing Cooperative Society Limited, Yemi Adelakun said, one of the immediate impact of Corona Virus is delay in investment generally and real estate in particular. In the US, people offloaded their stocks because of uncertainties. Similarly, decision to buy or develop properties will be negatively affected.
An estate surveyor and professor at Federal University of Technology Minna, Muhammad Bashar Nuhu said that the impact would be more on the supply side. “This is so because of restricted movement of the expatriates particularly as it relates to large development sites. “But for a shrewd developer, this is the best time to start development because of the cheap funding that is now available through the drastic reduction in interest rates. Albeit building for the immediate future. But generally is bad news all round. Timely delivery is no longer achievable. And new projects will be on hold.”
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