Increase cost of housing in Nigeria - what's the solution?

[Tmoonz]

Well what you are talking about in this thread is absolutely true, and right now the cost of living is actually killing the living in Nigeria, and I think Landlords and agents are making whole lot of money from individuals, it’s totally alarming and there is nothing absolutely anyone can do about this situation in the country, things are very hard in Nigeria the economy is very difficult for everyone, and there is nothing that is even easy for anyone, especially when you’re staying in the city, there is nothing you can do but pay this rents when you don’t have a house of your own then it’s totally alarming, the most alarming thing is that the Government doesnt have any plans of doing anything to help the high cost of living and everything is alarming and everything is absolutely bad and terrible and everyone is suffering the high cost of house rent in Nigeria.

The problem goes beyond this, housing supply is low, population is increasing and more people are moving into urban areas, so prices keeps going up. Government intervention is important no doubt making policies around rent control and affordable housing can make a difference if properly implemented but while all this is been figured out, people are already trying to adjust by sharing apartments, moving to a less crowded area or anywhere there an alternative. It’s not easy at all but I think the focus should be on both sides, pushing for better policies while also finding ways to cope in the mean time because as bad as it is we still have to find ways.

My emphasis is going to be on the government ability to provide relevant industries, surely if most of the imported building materials are produced here in our country the cost of it will be cheaper, the problem we are facing has leading causes even though some private house owners are becoming heartless in their decisions making concerning the high cost of house rent, building materials can be costly which we know but most private house owners are taken advantage of it for their own selfish interest, we are the part of own problem while we are waiting the government for good governance and policies individuals should also help the society by being considerate.

[odunybiz]

The increase in house cost in Nigeria should be reduced by government helping the masses to reduce the cost of building materials in market, ln other word, help the land lords reduce the house rest for their tenants.

Also, the government should help the land lords reduce nepa bill, because I think that is another factor causing the high cost of housing in Nigeria.

Even if government do all this that doesn't guarantee reduction in house rent in Nigeria. We are the problem of ourselves. Although house building materials are expenses but what of old house that are rent out without any renovation but still expensive. House agent are part of the reason while house rent are high. The funniest thing is that some of this agent can't even avoid or rent most of those houses at that price. House rent is already high, this agent will still add some fee to make it more high to the point that make it not avoidable by common masses. Now, if care isn't taken you need to work for 3 or more months to gather your house rent which is not proper.

[AmaGold70]

The rising cost of housing in Nigeria is a problem that needs attention. Because people can no longer afford to pay for good accommodation, they're forced to live in slums-residential areas that are detrimental to their health, as these places has limited access to clean water and sanitation amongst other leading to high exposure to diseases due to poor hygiene and waste management. Although there are factors that actually contributed to this increase likely scarcity of houses, cost of acquiring a land, construction cost and maintenance etc there's a government in place that's supposed to regulate all these, at times I wonder what the ministry of housing and urban development is for.

The high cost of accommodation in Nigeria is very alarming. I understand the cost of building material is very high in the market, and so is the cost of labour too. But even at that, these things has to be controlled, this is the reason why we have government in power . It is the federal government, the state government, and the local government that are in position to do this. Landlords are just allowed to inflate price of accommodation any how they want and no one is saying anything, making people even relocating from cities to rural areas.
This is the problem in Nigeria, the people in power don't really look the challenges that the citizens are confronting, instead they focus on things that will give them money alone, and this is absolutely a way of punishing citizens instead of liberating them from suffering.

[Yorubek]

The rising cost of housing in Nigeria is a problem that needs attention. Because people can no longer afford to pay for good accommodation, they're forced to live in slums-residential areas that are detrimental to their health, as these places has limited access to clean water and sanitation amongst other leading to high exposure to diseases due to poor hygiene and waste management. Although there are factors that actually contributed to this increase likely scarcity of houses, cost of acquiring a land, construction cost and maintenance etc there's a government in place that's supposed to regulate all these, at times I wonder what the ministry of housing and urban development is for.

The high cost of accommodation in Nigeria is very alarming. I understand the cost of building material is very high in the market, and so is the cost of labour too. But even at that, these things has to be controlled, this is the reason why we have government in power . It is the federal government, the state government, and the local government that are in position to do this. Landlords are just allowed to inflate price of accommodation any how they want and no one is saying anything, making people even relocating from cities to rural areas.
This is the problem in Nigeria, the people in power don't really look the challenges that the citizens are confronting, instead they focus on things that will give them money alone, and this is absolutely a way of punishing citizens instead of liberating them from suffering.

I agree with you, it is becoming difficult for the common people to lead a life day by day, the people who are ruling the country only look after their own interests, they do what will benefit them, they do not see anything else except money. Politicians think about themselves and not about the common people, their main goal is to loot money, get rich quickly and live a comfortable life, they have no concern about whether the common people lives or dies. Politicians are not doing anything to bring peace to the country, instead they are creating various unrests in the country day by day.

[Silikiem]

I think is high time the Nigerian government steps in concerning this issue of housing in Nigeria as the cost of renting a room or an apartment is getting too much. It is true that the cost of building materials are also very expensive now in the country but whose fault is it, still the government fault as a result of their failure to provide or build industries where locally made materials can be produced because I believe if this is done then most of this material prices won’t be that much. But again, activities of some so called youths in the country have made it even more difficult for the people with little income to afford an apartment in the country, this young boys don’t even price anymore, you don’t even know their source of income, they spend money anyhow and they are willing to pay for any amount given to them by this housing agents. This young boys and girls have largely contributed to most of the reasons why the high cost of housing in The country.

[Jegileman]

The rising cost of housing in Nigeria is a problem that needs attention. Because people can no longer afford to pay for good accommodation, they're forced to live in slums-residential areas that are detrimental to their health, as these places has limited access to clean water and sanitation amongst other leading to high exposure to diseases due to poor hygiene and waste management. Although there are factors that actually contributed to this increase likely scarcity of houses, cost of acquiring a land, construction cost and maintenance etc there's a government in place that's supposed to regulate all these, at times I wonder what the ministry of housing and urban development is for.

The rise in prices of housing in Nigeria is very alarming but what can we do about it when the government that’s suppose to regulate those prices to a considerable one has made everything costly to buy. Just check what a bag of cement is sold for now, all other building materials have also increased in prices, these are part of what has increased the prices of building materials in Nigeria. The cost of fuel is another big factor which has affected every other sector that you can think of in Nigeria as long as transportation is involved which is undeniably the truth. There is no buying and selling without transportation. The state of the country is in a retard state, I just hope Nigeria government do something about them because everything is just getting worse by day.

[yixichloro2xx]

The rising cost of houses and properties in Nigeria is due to lack of proper regulations. Because I still don't understand why a 2 bedroom apartment will be going for 7 million Naira per year for rent in Lagos, what is inside the house that makes it cost like that. If you ask these property owners why they hike prices, they will tell you that it's because of the land they bought and other stuff. An average person who is earning average salary is unavailable to rent an apartment. Our government are not responsible people, they have anything in their head. By now they should be focusing on how to develop affordable homes for the average Nigerian citizens, this will reduce the rate at which people live in slums, or are homeless. Private housing owners only care about rich people, they also have an important role to play in order to solve this issues. People deserve safe places to live, not environments that damage their health daily.

[Crakryptvest]

The increase in house cost in Nigeria should be reduced by government helping the masses to reduce the cost of building materials in market, ln other word, help the land lords reduce the house rest for their tenants.

Also, the government should help the land lords reduce nepa bill, because I think that is another factor causing the high cost of housing in Nigeria.

The building material is the problem according to the landlords but let's assume the government reduces that, will the landlords reciprocate? My answer is I don't think so unless the government themselves come out with full force to implement it, if not, the landlords don't care about anything,they only cares about how much they will be making from tenants yera in year out that's their concerned, these days House rents are been increased by landlord at anytime, they even do it if they do not want a particular tenant to continue being one of their apartments occupants, I have seen this happen severally, as for the Nepa bill, it is not the landlords duty, the government and electricity distribution companies that does that, Nigerian government has a lot to do but they prefer politics than doing what's right.

[Biirakedee]

The increase in house cost in Nigeria should be reduced by government helping the masses to reduce the cost of building materials in market, ln other word, help the land lords reduce the house rest for their tenants.

Also, the government should help the land lords reduce nepa bill, because I think that is another factor causing the high cost of housing in Nigeria.

You have made a fair point but u think it goes beyond just helping landlords to reduce nepa bills or materials. The bigger issue is that demand is very high while supply is low especially in cities. So even if cost reduce there’s still possibility that rent might still remain high because too many people are chasing limited houses. I agree that government can help but the real solution should include building affordable houses and making land easier to access and also better housing finance options because if we only focus on reducing cost without increasing supply, the problem might still remain.

[DYOR+BTC]

The increase in house cost in Nigeria should be reduced by government helping the masses to reduce the cost of building materials in market, ln other word, help the land lords reduce the house rest for their tenants.

Also, the government should help the land lords reduce nepa bill, because I think that is another factor causing the high cost of housing in Nigeria.

You have made a fair point but u think it goes beyond just helping landlords to reduce nepa bills or materials. The bigger issue is that demand is very high while supply is low especially in cities. So even if cost reduce there’s still possibility that rent might still remain high because too many people are chasing limited houses. I agree that government can help but the real solution should include building affordable houses and making land easier to access and also better housing finance options because if we only focus on reducing cost without increasing supply, the problem might still remain.

Yes demand is the main reason behind constant increment of house rent all over the country, when ever the demand is high the cost of that particular commodity also becomes very high therefore I will agree with you that demand is the only architect behind the high increment of rent and no other thing.
In rural areas the same amount of money used in the building of same building in urban areas is also used in rural but because of low demand rents over there is very low compared to the urban which justifies that claim that demand is the reason behind high or continuous increment in house rents.

[Nightwatchmare]

House increase has added to one of Nigeria problem, which I think it be a great issue in time to come, if nothing is been done about it. I have seen a lot of people living in the street, flyover because they can not afford the cost of house rent. A landlord will just wake up in the morning and decide to increase house rent without no notice or calling out for a meeting, to inform them by giving them a space of so, so period of time, but no they will just give condition that, if you don't like the increase of house rent that you should move out, so he can put someone who is interested.

So, one of the thing I think will be a solution to this is that, government should call out a meeting to every landlord to make an agreement with them to reduce the cost of house rent, and then the government should look into cost of things like materials and transportation by making sure everything is decrease, because when you ask them the reasoning for the increase of house rent, they will refer you to those things I have just mentioned.

[Cossyblack]

The building material is the problem according to the landlords but let's assume the government reduces that, will the landlords reciprocate? My answer is I don't think so unless the government themselves come out with full force to implement it, if not, the landlords don't care about anything,they only cares about how much they will be making from tenants yera in year out that's their concerned, these days House rents are been increased by landlord at anytime, they even do it if they do not want a particular tenant to continue being one of their apartments occupants, I have seen this happen severally, as for the Nepa bill, it is not the landlords duty, the government and electricity distribution companies that does that, Nigerian government has a lot to do but they prefer politics than doing what's right.

My question is,when building materials was cheap and affordable,were house rent high? The answer is No right?  We shouldn't be lamenting about the cost of house rent when the price of building materials is soaring higher. Did you think to build a house is small money, did you expect landlords not to increase house rent after spending millions of Naira on building materials? Let's assume the price of petrol rises to 2000ngn per litre, if you were a driver, wouldn't you increase fees for passengers? It won't cost   government a dime to reduce the cost of building materials but they won't because they are benefiting from the current price.

[Bitcoin.com97]

Increments of rent this days is alarming, , houses built in years , landlords and agent wakes up one morning and increase their rent , and the annoying part is the fact they said things are expensive,  like ,land, material for building and other unnecessary stuff, if there is a way government is going to regulate it , it will be appreciated by the masses because it seems like all the money made is going into rent , what I normally used in consoling myself is that ,” the life is just survival of the fittest” because I don’t know if more is coming or the worst is coming but we will scale through, everything is just so expensive and high for individuals it’s not really easy.

[Obulis]

Over dependency on importation and total importation of commodities that used to be produced locally. That is as a result of bad governance. Selfishness of executive to low government officials has resulted in total close down of production in the country. The painful ones are the sectors that the raw materials are highly available in the country yet total importation is what is the case, by that invariably there will be high cost of materials. To be specific, there used to be metal industry in the nation and should it still be in operation then metals and metallic materials would be more affordable and that will affect the cost of building directly and indirectly.
Government incapacity has also in other ways like transportation contributed to high cost of materials.

To solve the present economic shambles is for the people to wake up up from their slumber to see and do the real meaning of democracy to increase the chance of projecting selfless people who will direct the affairs of the nation by encouraging development in all ramifications.

[Sulegzy39]

Even if the government undertakes all of above, it does not ensure a reduction in house rent in Nigeria. We are our own problem. Although house building materials are pricey, what about existing houses that are rented out without being renovated but remain expensive? House agents are one of the reasons why house rents are exorbitant. The funniest part is that some of these agents can't even avoid or rent most of those residences for that sum. House rent is already exorbitant; this agent will add a fee to make it further higher, to the point where it is unavoidable for the common people.

[9ja Amaka]

The increase of rent in Nigeria is really bad and it's truly affecting a lot of people as you have mentioned. I think the house owner are in full control of rent, so I think the government are the major cause in the increase of rent in the country.  The government needs to invest more in housing,  so they can help control cost of rent in the country. Imagine if the government provides 30% of housing,  they should be able to control the cost of renting a house or an apartment. 
The government also have to make policies,  that controls cost of rent in every area of the society.

[JoyceBTC]

The increase of rent in Nigeria is really bad and it's truly affecting a lot of people as you have mentioned. I think the house owner are in full control of rent, so I think the government are the major cause in the increase of rent in the country.  The government needs to invest more in housing,  so they can help control cost of rent in the country. Imagine if the government provides 30% of housing,  they should be able to control the cost of renting a house or an apartment. 
The government also have to make policies,  that controls cost of rent in every area of the society.

House rent is expensive in the country because the government has failed to use their power under the ministry of land and housing to erect good buildings to make life easier for the citizens. If there are good developments in most of the places that are regarded as villages today she the government takes advantage of the vast lands in those areas building different structures and making the rent very cheap will crash the high rate of house rent in the country.

In Nigeria today the politicians are more interested in pushing the billions they have stolen into real estate where they keep milking people who they allocate those houses too and the people who are fortunate to have a building now takes advantage of the high cost of living to increase their house rent. Right now the minimum wage of a civil servant can not pay his a room and toilet apartment yet the government under the leadership of Jagaban is busy going round with flyers bearing renewed hope.

By now people ought to have started protesting and demanding for his removal because if he stays in the office for another four years an apartment in any part of the country will will almost be equal to the amount you can use to build a new house. 20% of all the housing in the country can solve the rent issue in the country if the government decides to build houses and allocate them to mainly civil servants by doing that the house owners will run to reduce their rents because people will now have a choice to choose where they want to stay.

[Queen uloma]

You’re right, the cost of house in Nigeria is now very high and expensive, and it’s really affecting we the citizens, many people can’t afford good house again, that’s why they’re managing to stay in slum area, that’s not good for the health, where there’s  No clean water, poor sanitation and sickness spread easily because the environment is not clean. The problem currently isn’t only house that’s costly, including buying  land, building materials are too expensive. Government needs to do something about it, we have ministers that are suppose to handle housing and other development, but it seems like they’re not doing anything. They’re supposed to create affordable housing, give landlords a particular amount that they should place their house, anyone who fail to listen to the instructions should face the law. If government can abide by this, I believe the rate of house price will reduce and suffer will also reduce.

[Berry2d]

Increments of rent this days is alarming, , houses built in years , landlords and agent wakes up one morning and increase their rent , and the annoying part is the fact they said things are expensive,  like ,land, material for building and other unnecessary stuff, if there is a way government is going to regulate it , it will be appreciated by the masses because it seems like all the money made is going into rent , what I normally used in consoling myself is that ,” the life is just survival of the fittest” because I don’t know if more is coming or the worst is coming but we will scale through, everything is just so expensive and high for individuals it’s not really easy.

I see no reason blaming landlords and agents on there actions in house rent increment because assuming we have a good government that has the interest on citizens at heart,  alot provisions would have been made to control the price of rent in most places. The more the country is facing hash economy,  are will also work towards balancing the situation which is why the rent is getting up without coming down.

At this time I will say something needs to be done as 50 percent of citizens are leaving and surviving on rented apartments. The government needs to get involved even as they do not have a structure to will help bring solution to the problem. 

[Iamgoat]

The increase in house cost in Nigeria should be reduced by government helping the masses to reduce the cost of building materials in market, ln other word, help the land lords reduce the house rest for their tenants.

Also, the government should help the land lords reduce nepa bill, because I think that is another factor causing the high cost of housing in Nigeria.

Even if government do all this that doesn't guarantee reduction in house rent in Nigeria. We are the problem of ourselves. Although house building materials are expenses but what of old house that are rent out without any renovation but still expensive. House agent are part of the reason while house rent are high. The funniest thing is that some of this agent can't even avoid or rent most of those houses at that price. House rent is already high, this agent will still add some fee to make it more high to the point that make it not avoidable by common masses. Now, if care isn't taken you need to work for 3 or more months to gather your house rent which is not proper.

The issue with the house thing is starts with the government but the government is not to be blamed alone as we still have the house agents to be blamed too, those who are serving as a middle person between the buyers and the landlords. Starting with the government, they have to put a very strong policy on ground which will guide and guard the interest of the people more than the government which now includes low building materials, low cost maintenance, low taxes on landed properties and other things I have not mentioned here whereas when it comes to the people, they also need to learn how to stay patriotic and create working associations or groups which are going to be used to police the affairs of these agents to avoid them from over taxing or charging people who are supposed to be their clients with extortion.