Northcourt’s career talk offers insights on housing economics

When professionals in real estate, telecommunications, investment markets, oil and gas to eager students of estate management gathered for a career talk in Lagos and Abuja recently at the instance Northcourt Real Estate, the focus was on the economics of housing and homeownership.

Northcourt Real Estate, relatively young but dynamic, is an award winning real estate services company with a crop of young real estate professionals as directors and chief executive. Tayo Odunsi, a seasoned real estate economist and chartered surveyor is the company’s chief executive officer.

Odunsi who facilitated the sessions at the two locations highlighted the importance of a housing career by having a sustainable and balanced perspective to home ownership with considerations for size, tenure and options for acquisition. He commenced both sessions by asking a seemingly innocuous question as to whether housing is a means to an end or an end itself.

This spurred the audience and led to series of opinions from the enthusiastic participants. While most of them held on to their ideology, it was evident that the necessary facts were not forthcoming and as such, there was need to rebuild rationality.

The 60-man capacity hall was fully packed with an overflow in the Lagos venue while the Abuja attendees also exceeded expectations. The audience ranged from professionals in real estate, telecommunications, investment markets, oil and gas to eager students of estate management and other related courses.

“Housing is a factor of production like food and clothing; it needs change over time because we never select a house just because it houses us. We choose one house above another because of the utility we derive from it”, Odunsi posited.

Continuing, he noted, “with shifts in demography, housing policy, housing markets, labour mobility, change in attitudes and social roles amongst other factors, housing careers are ever changing. He also postulated that having a housing career would bring about stability and sustainability in income and social well-being.

One aspect of the evening that kept most participants at the edge of their seats was the comparison of rent, buy, mortgage or hybrid. The findings were very astonishing but could not be faulted being empirical and fact-based.

At the end of the session, a good majority of the participants reasoned with the CEO’s that housing is a means to an end and not an end in itself and, as such, it is transitional over time much like a professional career.

CHUKA UROKO