Dr. Yemi Adelakun, the visionary founder of Nish Affordable Housing and the convenor of the Affordable Housing Finance and Investment Summit, recently bestowed a distinguished leadership award to Minister of Housing Ahmed Dangiwa and Dr. Olayemi Rotimi-Shodimu, the convenor of the Renewed Hope Housing public-private partnership Summit, during a notable visit to the Headquarters of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development in Abuja.
The demand for housing in Nigeria is dramatically escalating, with approximately five million new residents requiring vital shelter each year, a consequence of the nation’s burgeoning population growth rate of 2.5 percent.
This burgeoning need necessitates the construction of at least one million additional residences annually, as revealed by a recent analysis from the Lagos-based real estate consultancy, Diya, Fatimilehin & Company.
The firm emphasized that the recently inaugurated N1 trillion real estate investment fund under the auspices of the One Million Homes Housing Project, initiated by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), could serve as an essential lifeline to address this pressing demand.
In its comprehensive Nigerian Residential Market Review 2025, Diya, Fatimilehin & Co. underscored evolving patterns within Nigeria’s regional housing markets. In the South-East, there is a notable transition from self-constructed homes towards estates and secured communities in cities such as Onitsha, Owerri, Awka, Umuahia, and Enugu.
There is an increasing appetite for contemporary duplexes, flats, and bungalows featuring innovative designs. The cost of land ranges from N25 million to N120 million per standard plot, while the average pricing per square meter fluctuates between N40,000 and N180,000.
In the North-West, the residential demand in cities like Kano and Kaduna is being invigorated by advances in agricultural mechanization, despite ongoing security issues. Here, land prices typically range from N25,000–N150,000 per square meter, positioning standard plots between N15 million and N100 million.
In the North-East, cities such as Yola and Gombe, which experience comparatively lower levels of conflict, see average annual rents exceeding N1 million for flats. Land values in this region average N20,000–N40,000 per square meter, translating to prices between N10 million and N30 million for a plot.
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In the South-West, Lagos continues to reign as Nigeria’s priciest property market, with premium regions such as Ikoyi, Banana Island, and Victoria Island maintaining their elite status. A four-bedroom flat in Ikoyi now commands a staggering price of approximately N1.5 billion.
Beyond Lagos, Ogun and Oyo States are becoming appealing alternatives, with neighborhoods like Alalubosa and Iyaganku GRA in Ibadan and Laderin Estate in Abeokuta witnessing annual rental rates soaring to N3 million.
The report associates these trends with extensive infrastructure undertakings, including the Lagos Blue and Red Line Metro rail systems, the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, and the Lagos-Calabar coastal highway. Furthermore, public-private partnerships are also catalyzing housing development in cities such as Abeokuta, Ibadan, and Osogbo.
