Nigeria, Kenya lead peers in real estate data, transparency

Nigeria and Kenya led other Africa markets in real estate data and transparency, according to a survey conducted by Jones Lang LaSalle, (JLLs), an American professional services and investment management company specializing in real estate, Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI) Index.

In its 2018 GRETI, Nigeria was ranked 67th position out of 100 countries that was surveyed in 2017. It scored 3.7 out of 5 points, which meant low transparency. Scores with 1.00 is the highest possible score. Kenya was ranked 53rd.

“In this year’s version, only 10 of the 15 African markets have improved, which has been led by Nigeria and Kenya,” Jeremy Kelly, a director within the Global Research Programmes Team, JLLs said.

Kelly, recognised as a global thought leader and advocate for transparency and data across global real estate markets, will present the African chapter of their market leading GRETI to 600 of the continent’s leading real estate developers and investors, and lead the conversation on the importance of data and transparency at the ninth annual Africa Property Investment (API) Summit & Expo taking place in Johannesburg September 20th to 21st, 2018.

Charles Ballard, research director, Sagaci Research, said, “Measuring data is challenging in Africa, but dynamic. The challenge is that Africa’s youthful population, informality and rapid growth makes measurement challenging to measure but ‘particularly dynamic.’

“Younger consumers tend to be less conservative and more open to trying new things , the rapidity with which Kenyan consumers adopted mobile money is an excellent example of this trend.”

To address the challenges of data in African countries, especially Nigeria, Estate Intel will launch a new data app at the summit.

“The app will be home to the most extensive collection of commercial property data points in Nigeria. We are confident it will change the way real estate decisions are made across the continent.” Dolapo Omidire, research analyst, Estate Intel said.

Forward-thinking and embracing new technology to drive data acquisition and development to improve data access and decision making is an area in which Kelly believes Africa can use to leap ahead of other markets.

Kelly further said, “Africa has an opportunity at this point to utilise blockchain for land registries or transactions; ‘smart’ buildings and infrastructure for facilities management or repair; or new database capabilities for collaborative data sharing between market participants to jumpstart the traditional methods of improving market data and building real estate markets that are fit for the future.”

Kfir Rusin, managing director and host of the 9th API Summit & Expo, said, “Increasing data flow and transparency are absolutely pivotal to the development and deepening of investment in the continent’s property markets.

“Being able to bring global and Africa pioneers together at the API Summit & Expo and aid them in leveraging our platform to elevate the importance of data and transparency as a key driver of investment growth is a primary objective of the conference.”