Prevailing commercial property prices influenced negatively available credit in Q3
Available credit to the commercial segment of the real estate sector in the third quarter (Q3) of 2018 declined as a result of prevailing commercial property prices, information compiled from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Credit Conditions Survey Report for the period shows.
The apex bank disclosed in the report that “lenders reported that the prevailing commercial property prices negatively influenced credit availability for the commercial real estate sector in the current quarter.”
Dolapo Ashiru, a Lagos-based financial analyst noted the real estate commercial sector is usually more expensive that the residential. “The prices are always higher than any other sub-sectors of the real estate industry,” Ashiru posited
The CBN’s survey report says credit conditions in the corporate sector varied by size of the business and asked lenders to report developments in the corporate sector by large and medium-size Public Non-Financial Corporations (PNFCs), other financial corporations (OFCs) and small businesses.
“The overall availability of credit to the corporate sector increased in Q3 2018 and was expected to increase in Q4 2018. This was driven by changing sector-specific risks, favourable economic conditions, improved liquidity conditions, market share objectives and changing appetite for risk,” CBN explained.
Meanwhile, a previous survey by BusinessDay shows that the property and construction market in Nigeria may depend heavily on commercial bank’s lending to fund its operations, as the decline in lending to these sectors hindered their performance in 2017.
According to the survey, total bank lending to Construction and real estate sector declined by 11 percent from N4.81 trillion in 2015 to N4.2 trillion in 2017.
“The economy was in recession from second Quarter 2016 and so, lending to most sectors declined. Also, banks saw other sectors viable enough to give credit because they were more certain to get their return from those sectors in order to prevent bad debt which is not good for their books,” an analyst who asked not to be quoted told Business Day on phone.
Bank lending to construction and real estate sectors in Nigeria have remained dismal when compared to the likes of South Africa, the continent’s most industrialised economy.
With a population of about 55 million, mortgages in South Africa account for almost 30 percent of total credit, the largest component of banks’ assets, which amounted to about 5.14 trillion rands ($382 billion) at the end of January 2018, according to central bank data.
Meanwhile, the real estate sector reported Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of -3.88 percent in Q2 compared to the -9.40 percent rate recorded in the previous quarter, in what is the 10th consecutive quarter in negative trajectory since the first quarter of 2016, figures available for the sector on NBS website showed on Monday, August 27, 2018.
The Q2 figures reported for the sector in the quarter under review was 5.52 percent points better than the contraction reported in the first quarter. As such, industry experts believe the sector may have turned the corner which is as a result of large capital spending in the construction sector.
Spreads between bank rates and MPR on approved new loan applications for all business sizes narrowed in Q3 2018, but were expected to widen in Q4 2018,” the report said.
The Nigerian apex bank, however, said in the report that the “lenders expect the prevailing commercial property prices to positively influence secured lending to PNFCs in the current quarter.”
Meanwhile, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) had decided to leave its key interest rate at 14 percent to fight inflation which, it said, was beginning to threaten the country for the 12th time since 2016. Seven members of the MPC voted to retain the interest rates at 14 per cent.
Before the MPC meeting, figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) had shown that the rate at which the prices of goods and services was increasing in Nigeria was up 11.23 percent (year-on-year) in August 2018.
Endurance Okafor