Developer planning for young Nigerians to own homes without breaking banks

Hope is on the horizon for young Nigerians who crave to own their own homes as an estate developer has revealed its plans to build for that class of people in its next phase of development.

The developer, 7-Fifteen Capital, an Abuja-based property investment and development firm, explained that they are fundamentally luxury real estate developers but are planning to do affordable housing, which young people will be able to buy without stress.

“The luxury market is very narrow, and we do believe that if we’re trying to help to bridge the housing deficit, which is huge in Nigeria, we just have to make the shift. So, definitely, we’re going to do that. It’s in the works already. But we have to find creative ways to deliver affordable homes,” Tope Adekoya, Co-founder and CEO, 7-Fifteen Capital, stated.

Adekoya spoke at the launch of the firm’s entry into the Lagos market. The launch, which had Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos State governor, in attendance, was a significant milestone for the firm, as it marked its expansion into Nigeria’s commercial capital and one of Africa’s most vibrant property markets.

Sanwo-Olu emphasized the critical role that real estate developers play in driving urban growth and addressing the state’s housing needs. He introduced the 7-Fifteen Foundation, a philanthropic arm focused on social welfare and community impact, aligning private real estate development with broader social responsibility initiatives in the region.

Adekoya noted that the luxury market has few buyers, which is why it’s in their plan to create another brand that will focus on mass markets in the next two to three years.

“Actually, there’s a lot of research going into that; a lot of studies are going into that. We don’t want just to come and say, okay, we’re delivering affordable homes,” he assured.

He disclosed that the company opened for business six years ago in Abuja and, within this period, they have built over 200,000 square metres of luxury homes, explaining that they have delivered over 500 homes of luxury real estate in Abuja, spanning across the Jabi Lake and Maitama districts.

“We have about 200 families living currently in our projects. And we have about 300 more in the pipeline. Those will be completed between this year and next year, and they comprise apartments, townhouses, and detached villas.

We currently have two projects in Ikoyi. One is on George Street, Ikoyi, and the other one is in Banana Island. We’ve actually started building since last year,” he revealed.

Like any other company, 7-Fifteen Capital is not without challenges, especially those associated with delivering luxury apartments and homes in Nigeria. “I’ll be honest with you; in the last six years, it’s been very difficult, extremely difficult because of foreign exchange issues and inflation,” Adekoya said.

He explained that a developer could get into a project when the dollar is N500.00 to $1, and midway into the project, his cost has gone up to about N1,000 to one $ 1, adding that the developer could have this sort of situation where his cost has ballooned from a project that’s supposed to be $10 million is now costing about $20 million and this is because a lot of the inputs are imported.

That’s a big issue you have to deal with and so you have to have creative financing structures to overcome that.