Infrastructure drives over N50bn real estate investment in Agbara-Igbesa

Igbesa, a sleepy town in the Agbara axis of Ogun State, is a major beneficiary of the ongoing reconstruction and expansion of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway, as the area has seen over N50 billion real estate investment in the past three years.

Market watchers have said that while some investors are purchasing land in the area for investment and security purposes, middle-income earners have been buying properties for residential purposes with the aim of relocating to the area.

Ibidire Adetunji Lams, a developer, confirms to our correspondent that the past couple of years have seen huge sales in land and houses in about 80 estates that have emerged in the area.

Lams, who is the developer of Freshland Palms Estate, explains that these investments are in response to the ongoing expansion of the Lagos-Badagry Expressway from its present four-lane to 10 lanes, pointing out that investors foresee demand and value increase as a result.

“Major developers in the area have a minimum of 100 acres; the cost of acquiring that size of land from the indigenes is over N500 million each for the over 70 estates in the area,” he says.

He notes that major estates such as Freshland Palms Estate, Property Mart, Potter Realty, Strategic Shelter, Grace Bunch and Sun City estates all have two phases, with each phase costing over N500 million to acquire.

“We are currently offering land investors investment opportunity in the range of N600,000 to N1.2 million per plot of land,” he says, noting that the fear by the middle-class to be able to cope with the urge to transform Lagos into a mega-city has also fuelled land sale in these estates.

He adds that the ongoing construction of the Badagry-Sango Otta road has also played a key role, as investors forecast the completion of the road, which is a link road to the border to enhance trade and spur business activities in the area.

Investigations by BusinessDay reveal that the relative low cost of land has also triggered high interest of developers in the area. Also, it is evident that ongoing demolition of structures within the expressway will not affect the new estates.

Mkpa Uko Peter, land speculator at Paradym Realtors, affirms the development in this area, highlighting the new marketing strategy employed by estate developers to entice land buyers.

He notes that most of the estates now offer convenient payment plan that places a little burden on the middle-income earners when they are buying land.

According to him, “the proximity of so many of these estates to major institutions such as the Covenant University, Crawford University and the Agbara Industrial Layout has also played a vital role in attracting investors to these new estates.”

Abass Adeshina Lasisi, developer, MastaShelter, notes that the demand for land in this area can be attributed to the well organised nature of the estates, pointing out that the value for the “amateur” estates might be quite an ambiguous evaluating, identifying the high competition by estate developers in the area as a crucial reason for the relative low cost of properties in the area thereby tempting more investors to acquire properties.