The AFRECA 2018 Round-Up

PropertyPro.ng
Aug 31, 2018 · 6 min read

By Funmilola Adeniyi

AFRECA 2018

Just in case you missed it, we held our very first African Real Estate Conference and Awards (AFRECA) on the 28th of August and had an amazing time. The event was themed ‘Growing African Cities: The Reshaping Model’.

If you couldn’t be there, these were some of the highlights of the event (We can only write down a few highlights because the event was teeming with them :) ).

The event opened with a keynote speech by the Lagos State Commissioner for Housing, Prince Gbolahan Lawal. His speech centred on how important it was for the government to have sit-downs at meetings such as Afreca, to get first hand information on the opinions of real estate professionals in the industry. He also gave a rundown of the current ongoing projects in the state and added that this will help mould state policies on real estate.

The event was divided into six major sessions; each session had a presentation and a panel discussion on a pre-selected topic. These were a few points discussed at the event.

Gbolahan Lawal (Lagos State Commissioner for Housing)

Sustainable & Equitable Housing: The Role Of The Government and Private Sector.

Key points:

  • ‘Equitable housing’ connotes a balanced equilibrium between demand and supply
  • There is a need to have maintainable housing, in the past, the government did not have a culture of facility management. The current Lagos state administration recognised this, and has now engaged the services of facility managers for recent projects.
  • To encourage investments in sustainable housing, there is a need for the government to lower financing costs, which are currently too high for developers, and encourage investments in equitable housing through land swaps and concessions.
  • Nigeria needs to think outside brick and mortar construction and consider options such as Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PVVC) and the use of other local materials such as Laterite.
(L-R) Olumide Ayodele (CEO Studio Stoone), Engr. Mustapha Lusty (CEO Kontz Engineering), Tosin Osinowo (Principal Architect cmDESIGN ATELIER), and Michael Johnson (Co-Founder, Living Spaces)

Building Technologies & Architectural Innovation Tools For Housing Developments

Key points:

  • Building Information Modelling software promotes efficiency mainly by helping to save time (It helps different players work in-sync on a project, and also helps to lessen and prevent flaws in the final result)
  • Although new building technologies can currently assist Africans a great deal in designing homes of the future, building and construction is where the major challenge lies
  • Till the problems of construction and implementation are tackled, most innovations are restricted on the design end.
  • The general african market may not be ready to implement 3D printing, due to issues such as materials, power and cost
  • It will be preferable to consider more viable alternatives like Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC) where buildings are constructed in full compartments and then assembled on site.
  • We should consider using local materials in place of more expensive building materials
  • Good design has a price but the price doesn’t always have to be borne by the end user.
  • We need to adopt more passive design measures to cut costs- buildings with natural lighting can relieve electricity costs during the day and adequate cross ventilation measures relieve the constant need for air conditioning, which in turn saves power.
AFRECA 2018

Optimising Real Estate Funding to create a favourable Investment climate In Africa

Key points:

  • The problem of insufficient data on the real estate industry and countries in general needs to be solved. Sufficient data helps investors make good decisions and a lack of data is a deterrent.
  • The Nigerian secondary real estate market is currently largely unregulated and unstructured
  • Cutting down the bureaucracy in land titling especially in Nigeria will help in creating a favourable investment climate
  • There’s a general insecurity when it comes to land in Nigeria as land belongs to the state and this can be discouraging to foreign investors.
  • Creating the option of outright land ownership will make investing more attractive.
AFRECA 2018

Housing Policies In Africa: The Need For Proactive Regulations In Managing The Housing Demand Of Africa’s Burgeoning Population

Key points:

  • Better regulations are needed to stop price speculations from adversely affecting demand
  • In public and private partnerships, both the government and the private sector need to focus and act on their strengths
  • Accurate data helps in matching demand and supply, determining the grey areas and helps us act more definitively
  • To ensure we can address the impending challenges from population spikes, we need to improve our real estate maintenance culture
  • Facility management in real estate should be deployed end to end to appropriately manage resources and not as an afterthought.
  • The housing development sector in Nigeria is largely unregulated. Regulation is needed to improve the quality of houses being developed.
Ayo Ibaru (Director — Real Estate Advisory, Northcourt), Adegbenga Fashola (Director / Chief Development Officer, Cube Square Concepts Limited)

Urban Planning & Transformation: Shaping the Real Estate Market in the 21st Century

Key points:

  • 64% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by the year 2050
  • 70% of the world’s total population live in slum communities
  • Urban planning needs data to be properly executed
  • Land registration should be digitised and simplified
  • Data and transparency from both the public and private sector, but mostly from the public sector, is generally what is needed in African countries
  • The government’s role is key in zoning and enforcement- these functions should be intertwined when urban planning is being done.
(L-R) Dapo Eludire (COO, PropertyPro.ng), Dr. MKO Balogun (CEO, DMB Consulting & Management Services Limited ), Erejuwa Gbadebo (CEO, IREP), Ann-Marie Onugbogu Opara (COO, Filmo Group), Olusanjo Fawole (Associate Partner, Ubosi Eleh & Co)

Real Estate Valuations And Economic Growth: Adapting To The Digital Environment

Key points:

  • People should be able to declare valuations for public use but are reluctant to do so as they feel such declarations may be used to unfairly influence taxes
  • Taxes need to be deducted before valuation
  • If the private sector wants to influence the government decisions on valuations, real estate valuers need to stop working in silos and cooperate to influence government decisions
  • Access to data helps valuation to be done based on knowledge and not speculations and assumptions
  • Property valuations need to be done in terms of market value

We’d like to thank everyone that attended the event and hope to see you all at AFRECA 2019. You can view the full list of speakers and the detailed topic list here.

AFRECA 2018
AFRECA 2018
AFRECA 2018
AFRECA 2018
AFRECA 2018

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