Ibadan is one of the largest cities in West Africa and third-largest in Nigeria. It attains this status due to its population and landmass. Statistics indicates that over 3 million people are within its 11 local government areas. It has a 2.73% annual population growth rate as at 2021, which is expected to reach 3.58% by 2031.
As the population grows, the growth of the middle income is also at an exponential rate. This is largely due to increase in private business establishments and movement of working-class people from neighbouring cities such as Lagos, who want to have a different lifestyle and escape transportation, housing and environmental challenges associated with Lagos.
Exhibit 1: Ibadan Population in 2021-2031
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There is no doubt, these are some of the factors driving the growth of real estate and construction sectors in the city. As state and federal governments intensify efforts on building sustainable public infrastructure such as rail transportation, dry sea port among others, people are also seeing this as an opportunity to migrate to the city. This migration trend is not new to the city. History has it that the city is one of the Yoruba cities that allow people of different race, culture, religion and ethnicity to co-habit with the indigenous people.
In spite of the public and investors’ interest in the city’s real estate market, our analysis has revealed that there a lot of areas that need constant and sustainable improvements. From land acquisition to construction of houses and offices, individuals and investors are having issues that need collective solutions. A number of prospective homeowners, who believe in the self-construction approach, are having problems in locating qualified builders, civil engineers, architects and other professionals needed for quality construction. Lack of accurate information and data make understanding of the best locations for building offices and hospitality structure difficult. These also contribute to buying quality materials.
In our research, we discovered that players in the market are better classified into acquisition, construction and mixed players. A number of players are playing strategic choice games within acquiring lands from the indigenous people, recreating the lands and sell to individuals and businesses.
Those in the construction classification are building and selling homes to individuals and investors. Mixed players are creating and delivering both values. From our analysis, it emerged that refining Ibadan real estate market with the consideration of the areas we discussed earlier will go in a long way of decongesting Lagos, advancing socioeconomic growth of the city and its neighbouring cities and towns [see Exhibit 2].
Exhibit 2: Ibadan Proximity to Major Cities and Towns in Oyo, Osun and Ogun States
Source: Dar GroupAdditional reports by Mubaarak Abdulhameed and Mariam Akanni
