Developer targets 1.5m affordable homes

SPURRED by the shortfall in housing delivery in Nigeria, a Lagos – based property developer has set his sights on delivering a minimum of 1.5million affordable houses in its estate along the Ogun and Lagos states corridor, which is expected to compliment government’s efforts.

The projects are coming as a brainchild of Revolution Plus and nicknamed Royal Haven Garden Estates Mowe – Ofada and Ikorodu.  The Royal Haven Garden Mowe is a 100 acres project while its counterpart in Ikorodu sits on 50 acres of land.

The estates are offering specified low-income housing designs of a room and parlour self-contained, two and three bedrooms apartments tagged Classic Royale, Deluxe Royale and Exotic Royale respectively.

Presently working on the sites of two estates in Lagos and Ogun States, with a minimum of three more planned to take off within the year 2016, to provide a minimum of 250 houses per estate, Bamidele Onalaja is unrelenting in his ambition.

“Mowe is the biggest we have in terms of size. It is worth over a billion naira, the same value as Ikorodu, a 50acre project, which means it is like half of Mowe. But because it is Lagos State while Mowe is Ogun State, the land costs as much as Mowe. So, by virtue of that the houses and land of our Ikorodu project are more expensive to buy. As such the cost of buying one plot of land in Ikorodu can as well buy one and a half in Mowe just because of location. Location is a major factor in real estates apparently,” he stated.

He explained further: “Our projection is to build like 250 units in each estate, we have started construction in both with the Okorodu project being the newer of the two – we started that one just two months ago, around December last year. So, we are starting construction very soon, but we have started construction in Mowe. We already have over 10 units completed and some of them fully paid for”,
While public response to the projects have been encouraging on a general note, it is especially so for the land.

“Maybe because it is cheaper. It is obviously more affordable for people to buy N600, 000 land more easily than to pay N2.5million or the full N6. 5million or N8.5million for the units depending on the location you go for. Our estates are secured with a deed of title and C of O. Some of our subscribers that are building right now can attest to it.

“Once you buy, we allocate your portion to you and you can start your construction, but the response to the land has been faster than the house. But I will advice that people should focus more on buying houses, because you just pay and park in”.

Although the estates are built on prototypes designs Onalaja revealed that subscribers still have the option of making changes to the designs before construction begins. “If anyone wants to make changes, we will factor it into the cost they have to pay, so they can have the option of dictating the finishing if they pay before we start construction. Before we start construction, you can tell us what you want so that we can do the calculation and you pay the difference”.

The standard designs of the units feature basic finishing that include ensuite master bedrooms with extra guest toilets attached to the sitting room. Also, all the sitting rooms are pop finished for the ceiling while the floor is tiled and the bedroom have screeded flooring and normal ceilings for the roof. Only the three bedrooms have extra finishing because it is our biggest design costing N8.5million. So, all its rooms are tiled,” he stated.