Expert tasks estate surveyors to look beyond profession for new opportunities

Beyond estate surveying and valuation, and in some cases, estate agency practice, there are also existing and emerging opportunities for practitioners in this profession, and that was the argument of Gbenga Olaniyan, CEO, Estatelinks Limited, who offered insights on those opportunities in Lagos recently.

Virtually all estate surveyors and valuers are involved in estate agency practice from which they get commissions from client-landlords or property owners who need and  engage them for their services.

But as professionals in Nigeria’s real estate sector where there is a huge deficit in housing supply estimated at 17 million units, it means the opportunities open to them are limitless and some of them, according to Olaniyan,  are low hanging fruits.

He said that beyond their traditional practice, estate surveyors can also go into housing  development, consultancy, research, facilities management,  land banking, and advisory services.  “When it comes to today’s investment world, it seems as though there is no strategy that has endured the test of time like buying and holding real estate”, said Olaniyan who is also an estate surveyor and valuer,  and whose company has done a couple of developments with good return on investment.

He explained that investment in real estate is a more long term form of investment, where the investor purchases property and holds for an extended period. The investment is  secure as there would always be appreciation in the value of the property.

The advantages of this, he said, included regular cash flow, value appreciation, equity build up, advising that  “it is important to invest in the areas of need such as Grade ‘B’ offices, middle income housing”.

He advised further that people could go into group investment as a club, pointing out that the return that the club realizes entirely depends on club members and their ability to choose the right investments for their pooled funds.

“You can purchase properties which you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to afford on your own;  it is a safer haven to invest your money as there is shared risk; there are more people involved, meaning that there are more knowledge in addition to funds pooled”, he said.

Another area with good prospects for investors is land banking which is a real estate investment scheme that involves buying land with a view to selling the land at a profit when the area appreciates. Olaniyan cited the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ) as a new investment destination with great potential for appreciation.

LFTZ is a new economic frontier in Lagos with a budget of $1.5b for the project which commenced in 2006. The zone will boast of a Sea Port, International Airport, Refinery, Factories, service centers, housing estates etc. and is expected to create direct jobs for about 135,000 people and indirect jobs for about 100,000 people.

Analysts say the value of land in that axis will rise over 100 percent in the next one year when the refinery scheduled for first  quarter  of 2019, becomes operational, making the zone a compelling destination where, at the moment,  plots can be purchased for as low as N750,000 per plot.

Research is another profitable field for estate surveyors. Traditionally, commercial real estate developers would converge with teams of analysts, gathering key research data to evaluate an investment opportunity. Olaniyan noted that a few real estate research companies have carved a niche for themselves in the field of real estate and economic research, citing  Roland Igbinoba Foundation, Estate  which has done very well in that field.

“This is a viable opportunity that can prove profitable to the industry, especially when advising foreign based clients who have little information on the Nigerian real estate market”, he assured.