Investigating Real Estate Investment Activity In Nkwelle Ezunaka, An Urbanising Space Contiguous With The Onitsha-Obosi-Nkpor Agglomeration

Abstract

Land and the improvements of land constitute real estate, both of them economic goods of high investment attraction. Because land is an essential input to real estate production, the emergence of land markets has the potential to generate real estate markets, depending on local factors since land is a fixed resource. Real estate investment activity can be wide-ranging, extending from the sale and purchase of land to all that we may do on land; with land; and to land. These activities create outputs for real estate markets. However, functional real estate markets will emerge where demand exists both for land and for development. Therefore, given the history of sustained land trading since the 1990s in Nkwelle Ezunaka, a community adjoining the Onitsha-Obosi-Nkpor economic cluster, this paper examines the impact of the activity, particularly if it has spawned a real estate market. Primary data was gathered by the authors’ field surveys of local agents, who connect buyers and sellers; and representatives of land-owning communities and families (the major suppliers of land in the market). The findings are that the land market continues to thrive. In addition, the market is driven by proximity to the Onitsha-Obosi-Nkpor agglomeration. Furthermore, land development activity has come to the location, modernising the landscape, increasing the population and spatially expanding the settlement. Again, owner-occupied accommodation is the principal investment motive; the commercial and residential letting sector is growing; but the investment sector (the sale and purchase of buildings) is yet to emerge. Additionally, development land continues to be available from the land market at apparently affordable prices. The conclusion is that sustained land trading has impacted the local economy, stimulating and accelerating real estate production. Therefore, a real estate market is developing, but it is not fully formed or functional.