Analyses of Land and Housing Price Inflation in Nigeria, A Study of Federal Capital Territory Abuja from 1999 to 2009

Abstract

The aim of this study is to critically considered inflation in the prices of land and housing in the Abuja property market from 1999 to 2009, and it is limited to residential property in the phase one of the Abuja property market. This research work was carried out to determine if actually there has been a persistence increase in the prices of residential accommodation in the study area, and also to determine the factors responsible for such increase. Data for the study were collected through observations, personal interviews, and library studies. The data so collected were analyzed using measures of central tendency, graphs and simple percentage table. The result of the study shows that there is inflation in the Abuja property market within the period under investigation. It also shows that the prices of land and housing are increasing at an average inflation rate of 50.1% for lease property and 39.3% for sale property. The work thus recommended the following: that the Government should provide mortgage insurance to first time home buyers who do not have credit history and to low-to middle income families  in  order  to  achieve  our  aim  of  providing affordable housing; the Federal government should de-centralize government offices from the city centre to other parts of the state to help reduce the demand of land and housing in the study area, in effect reducing the continuous-increase in the prices of land and housing, as people will have to shift to take abode in residential properties close to their offices; the government should go into mass housing development and also corporate with private developers in a bid to make different types of residential housing units available, thereby increasing the supply of the housing unit to meet demand for them. This will help reduce the continuous increase in the housing prices.

Keywords: Land, Housing and Price Inflation.