Real Estate Sector Records 46% Growth in 2024, Surpasses Oil and Gas

 The Nigerian real estate sector witnessed an unprecedented expansion in 2024, growing by 46.52 percent in the third quarter, marking one of the most significant surges in the country’s economic landscape.

This revelation was made by the Group Managing Director of Alpha Mead Group, Femi Akintunde, at a high-profile industry event held in Lagos. According to Akintunde, the sector also recorded a 16.5 percent quarter-on-quarter growth rate and contributed 5.43 percent to the nation’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) within the reviewed period.

The performance of the real estate industry placed it ahead of traditional economic powerhouses such as oil and gas, telecommunications, and agriculture, sectors that have historically been major contributors to Nigeria’s GDP. Akintunde attributed this remarkable growth to evolving trends in facility management, which have been increasingly influenced by factors such as sustainability, cybersecurity, automation, workplace and home well-being, smart building technologies, and artificial intelligence.

He emphasized that the continuous expansion of the real estate sector holds the potential to significantly contribute to Nigeria’s ambition of achieving a $1 trillion economy through job creation, urban and rural landscape renewal, and robust tax and fee contributions.

“The sector leapt above oil and gas, telecommunications, and agriculture, which were traditional leading contributors to the economy,” Akintunde stated. “Facility management also played a major role in this development, as emerging trends in property upkeep and tenant satisfaction continue to transform the industry.”

He further stressed the necessity of engaging professional facility managers to oversee complex properties, warning that self-managing such developments could lead to poor maintenance, tenant dissatisfaction, and diminished investment returns.

“An attempt to self-play both roles will yield poor facility management, leading to unsatisfactory tenant experiences, structure deterioration, and low investment returns,” he noted.

Akintunde called on developers and investors to embrace modern facility management strategies, stating that the sector’s continued growth could be a game-changer for Nigeria’s economic outlook.