Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country and by 2050 will have the 2nd lowest median age among Africa’s largest economies, with a whopping working population of 61%. Nonetheless, Nigeria currently has and will continue to have a young and vibrant population.

At this time, Nigeria will also be the 3rd largest country in the world, after India and China. According to the Pison Housing Group’s 2020 report, the housing stock in Lagos is estimated to be 1.492 million units. With a population of 18.5 million people in 2020 according to the United Nations and an average household size of 4.9 according to a report by Renaissance Capital, Lagos had over 3.8 million households, indicating that there are up to 2.1 million households that are without formal housing. This presents a supply gap of over 55%. The same housing supply gap is a common feature across the 36 states of the Nigerian federation and sub-Saharan Africa at large.

According to the National Bureau Statistics (NBS) data, Nigeria’s real estate sector posted 3.85 percent growth in the second quarter of 2021, representing its highest growth in six years, thanks to the full re-opening of the economy after the pandemic outbreak and increased investor interest. In the second quarter of 2022, the country recorded a 5.28 percent growth.

This shows investors’ confidence in the Nigerian real Estate sector as a sub-sector of the economy, which thrives despite the current inflation and devaluation of the naira.

If Real Estate companies could access better funding options, complete projects faster, and make homes more affordable, a lot of ground would be covered from these deficits. With an alarming growing population and consequent increase in housing deficit, there’s a need to urgently leverage efficient systems to ameliorate delays in industry project delivery, funding capacity, and low purchase power. Personal income has shown to have fallen to its lowest in over 4 decades due to the Covid-19 pandemic. (World Bank).

1.1. The PINCOOP Solution
Going by the rising cost of building materials, many real estate developers have embarked on upward review of prices of housing units in their stock.

According to findings by the Nigerian Tribune, most of the developers have jacked up their house prices by 40 to 50 percent in the last year, citing exorbitant building materials prices, high cost of funds, labor, and high cost of securing planning permission and documentation.

Thumbing through the pages of a real estate listing magazine or scrolling through the Instagram feed of a realtor, you find options of luxury homes in prime locations featuring just the right type of services an individual or family would want to enjoy. Right beside them, you would find jaw-dropping prices.

Let’s face it, the cost of property acquisition right now can be rather daunting for medium and low-income earners. You find yourself inundated with questions such as, ‘’How on earth can I afford this? Why is it so pricey? Are these developers kidding me?’’

Real estate is a decade behind in Tech.

The housing supply constraints, renting population growth, and demand for housing in Nigeria are driving the increase in the prices of properties. Millions of low and middle-income earners of society cannot afford to own their homes or invest in the opportunities owning a rental property offers, because of the outrageous prices.

The average age of first-time home buyers in 2020 is way higher than it was in the 80s or 90s. Back then, people could own houses in their 20s on an average income. These days, the age of ownership which is directly proportional to wage/income has resulted in a lot of delayed starts. The age range for many first-time homeowners among middle to low-income earners now starts from the late thirties to not at all.

In Nigeria, becoming a landlord is a status symbol but most importantly it brings about wealth creation. It is expected that at a certain age, you should consider owning your own home in order to: stop paying rent, stop being subject to annual rent increases, stop empowering your landlord to pay his mortgage, ensure your parents are living in their own home, and increase your net worth.

Historically, real estate has been a great way to diversify an investment portfolio, to fight against inflation, generate cash flow, earn capital gains, and build lasting wealth. However, the rising cost of investing in real estate and asymmetric information in the housing market excludes many Nigerians from benefiting from existing opportunities. While many Nigerians have benefited from the rapid growth in the financial services industry — thanks to Fintech platforms, the real estate industry is yet to experience a much-needed innovation. The question is, how do you manage your income realities with the cost of homeownership and societal expectations? One of the emerging solutions is CO-OWNERSHIP.

PINCOOP is one of the foremost real estate technology-enabled cooperative society investment platforms established for the purpose of facilitating co-ownership of real estate investments in a high-end environment which in turn yields high returns for the investing cooperative members.

PINCOOP’s mission is to capitalize on cooperative investment technology (COOPTECH) advancements, stimulate and drive growth in the real estate market, and make investing in real estate accessible, available, and affordable for low and middle-income earners through CO-OWNERSHIP.