Amid paucity of funds and advances in technology sweeping across most industries on a global scale, operators in the Nigerian real estate sector are adopting the concept of crowdfunding, as an inevitable source of funding project.
With the growing rate of urbanization in cities estimated by town planners at over 6per cent, a population of over 170 million and the desire for shelter and economic prosperity, developers and individuals have further developed a way to survive these harsh realities of the industry particularly finance through crowdfunding.
According to The Guardian’s investigation, prospects in the scheme earn a percentage of income made from their investments rather than directly own the property. Currently, the idea is attracting serious interest and has the potential to trigger a positive revolution in the property sector. Expounding on the development, an official of LandLagos Development Company, one of the groups driving the initiative in Lagos, explained that the whole idea is to enable investors and the public to become part of a movement by investing in residential and commercial buildings and in turn, earn solid returns on capital as a development partner.
“For instance, if you come in with N1m, you will get N250, 000 return at the end of 12-months and so the investor would be paid back one million, two-hundred and fifty thousand at the end of twelve months”, she said. “Real estate has been an asset class with a high barrier to entry. To make it more accessible, we’ve divided each property into shares, which are virtual portions of a property. Purchasing a share of a property through our model means that you are entitled to returns proportional to your ownership. You can choose to hold or sell your stake at any time it belongs to you”.