Bank debtors, civil servants exert pressure on property market

Despite the seeming lull in the housing sector, there has been a surge in home supply, especially in Abuja and Lagos, New Telegraph has learnt.

This recent development is not unconnected with the current probe of rich civil servants and threat by banks to disclose the names of their chronic debtors Built environment experts, who confirmed this, said that the threats by lenders to publish the names of their debtors have increased the volume of property available in the market.

In a bid to avoid the name and shame tactics deployed by the lenders to reduce the huge portfolios of their non-performing loans put at N546.02 billion as at March 2015, some of the debtors were compelled to sell off their properties to offset their debts.

The quantum of property pushed to the market, expert said, has forced down property values in some highbrow areas in Abuja and Lagos. Banks’ debtors are not alone. Civil servants in Abuja whose source of  wealth are questionable, are also offloading their properties into the market to avoid being caught by the anti-graft agencies, it was also learnt.

Lagos-based estate surveyor and valuer, Mr. Akin Olawore, said that property sales in the last two months had increased, attributing this development to the decision of lenders to publish names of their debtors. He said that many property owners and developers who dread the repercussion of having their names in debtors’ list have pushed some of the properties into the market in order to offset their loan.

Some of the property sales, he said, were executed in Abuja, while Lagos market received low sale. However, despite the huge volume of property that have been pushed to the market, Olawore said that there are no funds to purchase these properties.

Besides, Olawore noted that the demand for residential properties in high-end areas of Abuja and Lagos has been affected by exchange rate volatility.

He, however, said that there was high vacancy factor in flooded areas of Park View, Ikoyi and Chevy View Estate, Chevron and Lekki – all in Lagos . Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company (FDC), Mr. Bismark Rewane, further confirmed this in his monthly economic analysis.

He noted that the name and shame debtors by banks have forced huge selling of properties to pay down debts. Rewane also pointed out that the war against corruption and money laundering are pushing down property values.