The July 2026 LEAF Real Estate Investment in Africa Report estimated that Nigeria has a market value of $2.6 trillion, compared with approximately $1.6 trillion for Egypt, $1.3 trillion for Ethiopia and $1.2 trillion for South Africa. The report also projected Nigeria’s property sector to expand at about 6.9 percent annually between 2025 and 2029. Globally, real estate is enjoying an unprecedented expansion of markets as investors’ trust soar in recent years due to the volatility and uncertainties of the capital markets.
How real estate products are organised, their location to sources of income, the infrastructure they have and the demand for and supply of these products determine their values. Some cities have gained from their adoption of town and urban planning more than others. Paris, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cape Town, Kigali and London are examples of cities that improved their values due to town planning.Â
The most expensive individual luxury mansions and top prime real estate per square meter in Africa are found in Nigeria and South Africa; top for luxury real estate is Nigeria followed by South Africa. Nigeria is home to some of the most expensive individual ultra-luxury homes on the continent, particularly in upscale areas like Banana Island, Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos, as well as elite neighbourhoods in Abuja like Maitama, Asokoro and Wuse II.
Nigeria frequently tops lists for highest prime rental costs and features record-breaking private residential valuations (such as multi-million dollar properties owned by top business tycoons and politicians), mostly in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt. Egypt recorded the highest overall foreign direct investments inflow in real estate in Africa driven heavily by major real estate and mega development projects like the Ras El-Hekma deal. Egypt is followed by South Africa, Botswana and Mauritius.
South Africa ranks as the overall prime property leader with the highest average cost per square metre in specific high-end regions. Locations like Cape Town (including the Atlantic Seaboard, Camps Bay and Fresnaye) and Johannesburg (Sandhurst and Sandton) boast some of the highest concentrations of luxury real estate and wealthy hotspots in Africa. South Africa edged Nigeria in how it organised its real estate market with more planned estates than Nigeria.
A real estate market is the economic environment where people buy, sell and rent land and buildings. It depicts the area where real estate products are bought and sold. These real estate products include buildings, lands, building materials, construction and real estate services. In developed countries, the real estate markets contribute between seven and 10 percent to the gross domestic product (GDP), while in developing nations, they contribute between three and six percent to the GDP.
Ranking the real estate market of any nation can be due to the size of the market based on the population of the people and land area, the annual volume of transactions, the level of organisation of the market and sophistication of the participants, and valuation of its national real estate assets. The market size of Nigeria real estate market with 220 million population is definitely greater than that of South Africa with a population of 64 million people.
Nigeria’s real estate market is unorganised, underfunded, uncontrolled, unprofessional and lacks sophistication. The amount of funds available to the developers in Nigeria is meagre and trails those of South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Mauritius. The total length of motorable roads in Nigeria compared to its population is small compared to those of countries like South Africa, Egypt, Rwanda, Mauritius and Morocco.
Comparing real estate market development potentials in Africa, Nigeria ranks first because of its economy and the number of human settlements compared to that of South Africa. But unfortunately, the potentials are not maximally exploited. We are yet to add value to our real estate at the wholesale level and have the highest number of informal settlements in Africa. Lagos State, which is the centre of excellence, still has some housing challenges like inadequate road infrastructure and lack of gardens and parks.
While the percentage of properties with registered titles in South Africa is 79 percent; in Seychelles, it is 95 percent; 99 percent in Rwanda, and 10 percent in Nigeria. It is less than 25 percent in Cape Verde, less than 10 percent in Egypt and less than four percent in Cote D”Ivoire.
The value of the real estate market in South Africa based on turnover is greater than that of Nigeria. The volume of transactions per day in the real estate market of South Africa is five times greater than that of Nigeria. South Africa’s residential property market recorded R276 billion ($17.16 billion) in total transaction value during the first ten months of 2025, according to data from Lightstone. Nigeria’s total value of transactions in the property market was N19.66 trillion ($14.82 billion) in the whole of 2025.
While there are 36 Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), with 21 of those companies registered as official members of the SA REIT Association, there are just three REITs registered with the Nigeria Exchange Group.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) in its Global Infrastructure Table for 2025 placed Nigeria in 125th position out of 186 countries surveyed and behind South Africa, Egypt, Cape Verde, Morocco, Seychelles, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritius and Angola.
Yes. Nigeria has the potential of being the largest real estate market; it has some individual African most expensive houses in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, but it is not there yet as the purchasing power parity of Nigerians puts the available properties in the market out of the reach of an average Nigerian. It cannot be compared yet with South Africa with Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Durban having more highly valued estates.
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Olufemi Adedamola Oyedele, MPhil. in Construction Management, managing director/CEO, Fame Oyster & Co. Nigeria, is an expert in real estate investment, a registered estate surveyor and valuer, and an experienced construction project manager. He can be reached on +2348137564200 (text only) or femoyede@gmail.com
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