PROPERTY ARTICLES

Arenowned economist and faculty member of the Lagos Business School, Dr. Doyin Salami, has said that the outlook for the property market in the country will be slower in 2009, attributing the trend to the effects of the global financial crisis.

Salami said this while delivering a lecture with the theme, "An Economist’s Prediction on the Real Estate Market in 2009," organised by Castles Property Magazine in Lagos on Wednesday.

He said, "The lingering financial crisis, which is having its impact on various sectors of the economy, and has caused a fall in oil prices has affected the equities and real estate market."

While highlighting the relevance of the real estate sector to the economy, he observed that it had an average contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product in half decade to 2007 of a nominal figure of 3.92 per cent with an inflation adjustment of 1.42 per cent.

Over the same period, he said that the sector grew by a nominal figure of 30.5 per cent with an inflationary adjustment of 8.56 per cent.

According to Salami, the generic drivers on the demand side of the property market include income growth, earnings and income distribution, house hold change and other demographic factors.

He added that the generic drivers on the supply side were planning, land availability, finance, input supply and cost. Others, he said, were vacancies, turnover and house purchase systems.