The 1004 estate in Victoria Island, Lagos offers home seekers decent accommodation with basic facilities and simple luxury like a swimming pool. 800 two and three bedroom flats (80%) of the 1004 flats in this estate entered into entered the Victoria Island market almost the same time in October 2010 with very high rent tags which market analysts viewed as unrealistic in the circumstance. Apparently responding to the credit crisis in the financial system however, landlords of the various flats at the estate have slashed the rents considerably. A two-bedroom flat which was ₦2.75 million per annum now goes for ₦1.7 million per annum. Three-bedroom flat have come down from ₦3.5 million per annum to ₦2.2 million per annum.
1004 Estate was one of the Federal Government's properties that were brought into the market following government's monetization policy. The estate which housed senior federal civil servants was sold for ₦7 billion by the Federal Government to a consortium led by the UAC Property Development Company (UPDC) Plc. in 2006. It was a highly sought after property because of it prime location in Victoria Island, Lagos.
The rental market at the highbrow areas of Lagos has witnessed considerable drops in rent which is a direct fallout of the global economic crisis that has caused serious credit squeeze and also reduced people's purchasing power. Places like Lekki, Ikoyi and Victoria Island have seen between 10 and 15 percent drops. These are areas coming from a time when a tenant was required to pay three years’ worth of rent to secure a decent accommodation. This was however largely attributed to limited number of housing units available for rent. At these same locations, people are now paying one-year rent because there are many more units waiting to be taken up.
The positive impact of this is that it is going to make more people to rent. This time also, people have to be more flexible and reasonable with their renting profile".
Source: Business Day Online
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