Student housing: Investor boosts supply with 5000 affordable units in 5 campuses

Student housing and received a major boost recently as Axial Nigeria Limited, an investor in that segment of the real estate market, delivered 5000 affordable units in five university campuses, meaning that investment interest in that market segment is growing.

Student housing is a relatively new investment frontier, but is increasingly, especially in the last couple of years, gaining traction, offering opportunities to the few investors who are tapping into the market and enjoying the significant yield which analysts estimate at 22 percent.

Working with the authorities of the universities under a partnership arrangement of Build, Operate and Transfer (BoT), Axial delivered the 5000 units in University of Lagos (UNILAG), Federal University of Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) and College of Nursing Science, Ekiti, located in Lagos, Ekiti, Osun and Ogun states, all in Southwest, Nigeria.

In UNILAG, the developer delivered 1,147 units known as El-Kanemi Halls 1 and 2. In its efforts at growing through digitalization, it has delivered 600-unit investment housing through the online community housing and finance platform popularly known as BREICS.com

At OAU, a total of 1,040 units were constructed for the school’s Centre for Distance Learning, christened Moro Osun State Phases 1 and 2. It also built 412 units for the same university.

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At OOU, Ago Iwoye Campus, Axial delivered 506 units structured in two phases, while FUOYE got 474 units. At the College of Nursing Science, 600 units were delivered in EKSUTH, Ado-Ekiti with six months completion period .

“The over 5000 units completed serve as proof of our concept and capacity to deliver developments that have direct bearing on human lives and the sector,” Eyitope Ajayi, managing partner at Axial, said.

According to him, these projects became a reality due to the vision, strong leadership and doggedness of his mentor and Axial’s founder, Oladipupo Ajayi, President of Architects Registration Council of Nigeria (ARCON) and chairman of Axial’s student housing initiative.

“Axial, established in 1987 by our visionary founder with his vision to design and build with integrity, has developed into a design, build, manage and private investment management company with real estate investment and management offerings to private and public investors,” Ajayi said.

He added that, while the company looks forward to partnering with infrastructure financing entities for lower untreated rates amortized over longer periods for more sustainable expansion into other geopolitical zones, the 5,000 units have conveniently housed over 50,000 residents since completion.

The property investment and development expert added that Axial will continue to promote social impact development through affordable housing and increased access to education in Nigeria.

Explaining his company’s decision to delve into student housing, Ajayi noted that less than 20 percent of Nigerian students in the various nation’s universities are housed on their campuses, adding that governments, at both federal and state levels, had come up with policies that encourage private investors to own and run students hostels.

“Axial’s private infrastructure debentures allow investors to acquire a property with benefits ranging from capital appreciation to high rental yields with regular income annually in Nigerian Universities where they are located.

“The stress of management and the need to provide tenants or maintain the property is also off as these are all carried out and borne by our expert management team at Axial,” he said.

“90 percent of the students in Nigerian universities live off campus simply because of lack of on-campus accommodation with especially young girls straight out of high school to college exposed to negative elements outside the campus walls,” Ajayi added.

He noted that the existing houses on campuses are not only inadequate, but also unhygienic and certainly not conducive as a learning environment.

He pointed out that Axial provides standard accommodation at affordable cost to primarily female students, adding that, “in the last few years, our capital growth in student housing development has grown significantly from N750m to over N10bn without default in payment of annual rentals to our investors and financiers.”

Ajayi leads teams focused on providing infrastructure, real estate, investment management, community development and policy services.

He also offers advisory services to institutions, corporations, and family estates, in terms of reviewing, analyzing, developing, updating and implementing policies that enable them to create parameters of increased growth, regulate operations and achieve sustainable goals.

He is actively involved in tackling the precarious social inequality and global housing problems in developing communities.