The person publishing Nigeria’s leading real estate magazine for almost two decades has agreed to give me his perspective on the development of Lekki and my site search.
My interviwee’s thoughts were as follows:
– Lekki Phase 1 land prices are currently the highest (up to N350,000/sqm) on the peninsula, the high street land costing twice that on the inner streets (N150-180k/sqm).
– There are pockets of expensive development further East along the Lekki-Epe express. These are notably gated estates with good services and infrastructure (e.g. Nikon Town in Ikate where land could cost N200k/sqm)
– Once rail line is built in Lekki, and the non-residential masterplan parts start falling in place (as per my recent Unilag tutorial) the land East of Phase 1 will be used more extensively and will grow in price whilst Phase 1 prices will drop
– Lekki is a highly dynamic place, being different at any point in time – due to the number of ongoing and proposed land reclamation projects
– Lekki Phase 1 is typical example of mismatch between planners’ speculation an realities in Lagos.
– Developers are normally produce residential estates, underestimating the potential of commercial developments. The opportunities with the latter are demonstrated by the successful Ikota shopping area next to Victoria Garden City. These shopping units are popular for a variety of uses, including office.
– ‘Castles’ chief agrees statistics on the new developments demographic and sales are very scarce. This is partly due to delays in information recording and this information often being deliberately inaccurate to maximise profits or minimise tax by incorrectly stating property’s nature, size and value
-in relation to my work, the ‘Castles’ expert agrees with the project’s programme and may be in a position to recommend some sites around Ajah/Victoria Garden City
no.balsa 