Quickly! Let’s dive into it
Here are 7
major factors affecting the costs of housing;
·
ECONOMY:
The most important factor that affects the costs of any product or service in a capitalized society is the economic situation of that society, hence why a quality apartment or house situated in the most expensive part of a suburb like plateau state can cost just a quarter of the same quality of apartment or house situated in the most deserted outskirts of a city like lagos. Also why a quality 2500 square feet house or apartment in the Uk can and will cost twice as much as a 5000 square feet house or apartment of the same quality in Nigeria.
·
LOCATION:
The second most important factor in real estate is location, which although is closely knit to economic factors, it gives a more relatable description of the real estate sector we are all familiar with. Location stands on its own majorly because it usually is more than just economy and access to amenities, it is about branding, and yes there is branding in real estate, for example, no matter the quality of life you have around your estate on the lagos mainland, the lagos island life will always be a more revered brand address, even though island dwellers have to deal with a flooding situation 6 out of the 12 months in a year.
95% of the time, the entirety of the real estate market depends on the first two factors; sure you must have heard the saying “real estate is all about economy and location”.
·
SECURITY:
The third factor should obviously be as expected, safety. For most young bachelors or bachelorettes, it might not mean too much to consider security, it probably is more about just getting a good quality place and at an affordable rate, but for middle aged individuals or couples trying to building a future, security is a HUGE priority, hence why gated communities with fixed curfews and stationed security guards cost more than free range informal settlements that inhabits 90% of the Nigerian population.
·
DEMOGRAPHY:
Demographics talks about a social-economic study in regards to age, sex, race or tribe, and even occupation as is the case in a country like Nigeria. This is common as property owners or managers have their preferences in those they wish to sell or lease their properties to, hence why you have organization and company owned estates, for examples, NNPC quarters, CBN quarters, Expatriate staff quarters and the likes, on the local level property owners can go as far as enquiring about tenants or buyers life style choices, occupation status, religious or social affiliations and shockingly even sexuality. All these in turn affects housing costs, as the higher the class or nobility attached to the demography of a place, the more the demands placed on it and individual wish lists it occupies, hence why everyone wishes to live in Ikoyi, banana island to be exact.
·
QUALITY:
This is one of the most reasonable factors that should affect the cost of housing, as there is really no reason to occupy a place that is below one’s own taste, and when we talk about quality, it is in regards to internal comfort and sustainability, how are the built-in facilities?, like plumbing, power supply, choice of building materials used, satellite networking, built-in furniture quality, accessibility to clean water, wind and solar lighting. Quality is what differentiates the costs of similar properties in the same locations, hence why it goes a long way to affect the costs of housing and landed properties.
·
DEMAND:
This outline like location is also closely knit to economy, as it in itself stands out as an economic factor, and as we all know if the demand of a product or service is higher than the supply, the cost of that product or service will be subject to inflation, regardless of the quality provided. For example, if there’s a higher amount of people looking to rent a single bedroom apartment than there are available in an area, there is bound to be cost inflation for single bedroom apartments within that same area.
·
ROAD & TRANSPORTATION NETWORK:
In today’s world, where over population is fast becoming a global issue, hence why the ease and time spent on commuting between different locations is seen as a major factor that affects housing costs, particularly for vehicle owners, as majority of vehicle related issues are as a result of poor road quality, while traffic issues are mostly as a result of poor road networks and available transport networks. This issue is actually one of the first factors that set the pace for majority of revered locations, for example, more and more people started moving to lagos island Nigeria, when they realized it was closer to the executive business hub of the state, which is victoria island. This factor goes a long way to affect not just cost of housing but also choices of business partnerships, as it is easy to do business with allied organizations that are physically reachable within a maximum window of 2 hours, this is because the more the population of an area with poor road networks increases, the quicker a journey that used to be a 30 minute commute starts taking an entire business day.
·
SOCIAL AMENITIES (RECREATION, RETAIL
& HEALTH):
Majority
of the time, this is the only consideration taken when looking at the cost of
housing and landed properties, although this is not to say it is not important,
in fact it comes last in this outline for a specific reasons. In general real
estate practices, there are two major classifications of factors affecting or
driving the industry, one classification with various outlines under economic
factors (location, demand, etc), and the other which fall under accessible
amenities, (security, quality, etc).
We
have to make this a draft in itself, as there are specific outlines that’s define
it, these are divided into 3, recreation amenities, retail amenities and health
amenities, a briefly outline;
Ø RECREATIONAL
amenities include, community pool, sport centre, sit out or parks, etc
Ø RETAIL
amenities include, local market or grocery store, laundry mart, salon, print
shops, etc
Ø While
HEALTH amenities include, gym, primary health centre, pharmacy, etc
In
most organized societies or formal settlements, all three are be zoned into
relatable areas, this factor will be discussed extensively in a future article.
For more
enquiries, feel free to send a direct message or put a call through using the
cell digits provided, and you will get direct access to one of our professional
consultants. Thanks for reading
Do have an
awesome day.
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