Progressively and on incremental basis, rent in Nigeria, especially in the big cities of Lagos and Abuja, is defying market logic, worsening tenants’ woes, and pushing household income beyond limits.

In the last 12-24 months, rents in these cities, particularly Lagos, have surged to between 200 percent and 300 percent without justifiable reasons, creating what market analysts have described as ‘landlords economy.’

In his recent study, Olusola Akinbo of PwC Nigeria revealed that a landlord in Ajao Estate, a middle-class settlement in Lagos, raised his house rent by 218 percent, while a tenant captured in an online video lamented a 300 percent rent increase in an apartment in Banana Island—Nigeria’s most exclusive and expensive neighbourhood in Lagos.

By these increases, average rent for a three-bedroom apartment in Ajao Estate now rents for between N10 million and N12 million per annum, up from N5 million per annum, while same size apartment

This post was originally published on this site.