Lekki corridor in low activity despite improved road infrastructure

There are indications that the once buoyant property market along Lekki-Epe Expressway and its environs is yet to rebound from the slowdown it suffered from the global financial crisis. Prior to this period, the Lekki corridor, which is tangential to the splendour of Ikoyi and the business hub of Victoria Island, was a sure bet for savvy investors.

BusinessDay checks reveal that despite the easing off of the global financial turmoil and the construction of a new 50-kilometre expressway which is the main access road into the axis investors, developers are still cautious with development as the road infrastructure is yet to spur any major boom on the corridor.

“Before the financial crisis, 1,000 square metres of land at Lekki Phase One sold for an average of N130 million and sometimes for as high as N150 million. However, during and after the crisis, we have seen prices of the same size of property drop to as low as N90 million per plot and properties in prime locations could at most go for N120 million per plot,” Onyinye Nnabugwu of Ubosi Eleh and Co., a firm of estate surveyors and valuers, told our reporter.

According to her, though the new road has increased the influx of people into the axis, it is yet to have any significant impact on property prices.

The economy has not been as vibrant as expected and its effects have remained significant at highbrow areas of the property market even when other sectors have picked up after the meltdown.

However, a survey by BusinessDay shows that there has been an upward price movement at some organised estates along the expressway.

At Chevy View Estate, for instance, a plot of land which sold for N15 million to N18 million in 2008 currently sells for N40 million and above. Also at Beachwood Estate, the story is not different as land prices have also soared from N6 million in 2008 to about N15 million per plot currently.

At Pinnock Estate, a significant price increase was recorded as a plot of land which sold for N18 million five years ago currently goes for between N60 million and N70 million.

“A major reason for the drive up in land prices in some of the estates is estate surveyors’ speculation,” Okechukwu Iwuagwu, a property consultant at O-Macconi, disclosed.

By: ODINAKA MBONU