Buhari’s anti-graft war takes toll on Dubai’s property business
As the President Mohammadu Buhari-led administration continues its crusade against fiscal indiscipline with unrelenting vigour in the nation’s public sector, Nigerian money bags, who have over the years been racing to Dubai as safe haven for property investments, are gradually weighing the risks of their adventures with many now lying low to escape the prying eyes of anti-graft crusaders. SYLVA EMEKA-OKEREKE reports.
Prior to now, Dubai used to be safe haven for property investments. Nigerians as well as other investors in the African continent preferred to invest in the oil-rich country noted for its tourist attractions.
This penchant for luxury apartments in Dubai made some foreign and local property agencies to open offices in the country with the plan of luring prospective investors into the emirate country with the propensity of growing property markets. National Mirrorr had revealed that The First Group, a British-owned property development company with its headquarters in Dubai, is presently operating at the local wing of Muritala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, where some daring marketing representatives approach unsuspecting travellers to convince them to buy property in Dubai.
For instance, some notable foreign-based estate marketing agencies have shown strong presence in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and some parts of the country. National Mirror spoke to one of the marketing officials at the airport, where she disclosed that they have the mandate to bring over ten Nigerian investors into Dubai’s property market on monthly basis.
Stella Uzoka, one of the foreign agency’s Sales Manager told National Mirror at the airport, that the group has various luxury properties in some prime areas across the globe with its speciality in Dubai property market.
“Our group basically offers extremely, exciting investment opportunities in luxury hotel apartments in the world’s most lucrative property markets.
Investment in Dubai property will offer you great opportunity to own one or more units of four or five-star luxury hotels as well as serviced apartments in Dubai”, she told National Mirror Uzoka however noted that those apartments would be owned by investors while the management would be vested on its best hotel management firm, Wyndham, stressing that the company will manage the apartments in the most-simple and profitable ways.
Further investigations reveal that some notable world-class footballers like Kanu Nwankwo, Michael Owen, Andrey Shevchenko, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Bryan Habana are ambassadors of the group due to their interests in the property deals.
The group, according to the sales manager, has twenty-five years experience in property marketing with offices in Russia, Almaty, Saudi Arabia, Abuja and Lagos state. Already, the firm said, it is offering iconic hotels in Dubai Marina at a lunch price of $545,000 while its Jumerirah village property is selling for $350,000 with daily appreciation of over 10 percent.
Its property investments, according to investigations, ranges from $300,000 to $450,000, rising up to $600,000 with a flexible payment plan, spread over twenty-four months. Investors would have two ways to recoup their investments, either through capital appreciation (increase in the value of property over time) or rent (rental income), which is paid twice a year.
With such investment plan, the return on investment yearly, staggering between rental income and capital appreciation will be on an average of 20 percent, subject to market dynamics.
This is in addition to its long-term, tax-free, secured investments. Another foreign-based property marketing firm in Lagos and Abuja is the Global E.V.C Limited. Its mandate like the First Group is to lure prospective investors in Nigeria and other countries of the world to acquire property in Dubai.
”With our presence in the country, Nigerian investors would have the rare privilege of acquiring new housing estates in Dubai”, the firm stated.
The company’s sales representative and holiday consultant in Nigeria, Mr Augustine Obadele told National Mirror on Burdillon road, Lagos, that its holiday ownership programme would offer families opportunity to travel to Dubai for holiday, where they would have the chance to inspect some prime properties in the country. The consultant stated thus, “Thanks so much for your interest in our holiday ownership programme.
I wish, you and your family will use this opportunity to visit Dubai on holiday trip. We will be very pleased to offer you two nights, free-lodge in one of the best hotels in Dubai”.
Reacting to the fresh interests in Dubai property markets by Nigerian investors, some experts noted with dismay that, in spite of the growing risks associated with global property markets, Nigerian investors are still scrambling for a slice of the cake amid Nigeria’s financial sector, being threatened by global financial and economic crises.
A Lagos-based lawyer with special interest in real estate, Barrister Bobajo Omowole wondered why Nigerian investors should invest in foreign property without ascertaining the legal implications of such investments.
He cited the case of his friend, who bought property abroad, but could not meet-up with the payment schedule, forcing the government of the country to take over the property.
Urging Nigerian investors to be wary of the marketing gimmicks of those foreign firms, Omowole said such move is capable of ripping-off unsuspecting Nigerian investors, advising that instead of investing in properties abroad, Nigerian investors should take advantage of the shortfall in the property stock in Nigeria.
”Nigerians should not be deceived by the gimmicks of those foreign companies. I advise them that before they buy any property abroad, they should look at the legal implications of such investments as well as the payment schedule. They should consider whether they can meet up the payment plan or else, they will lose their investments.
If they venture into such investment without first considering these major issues, the government of that country will take over the investment for inability to complete payments as scheduled”, he stated.
Omowole further stated , “’I know that if a foreign investor want to buy a property in Dubai, the person must have a shareholder in that country, who will also collect his own percentage from the investment. The percentage might be very outrageous”.
While encouraging Nigerians to buy property in Nigeria, instead of abroad, the legal luminary revealed that the United Nations Education and Scientific Cultural Organisations (UNESCO) report revealed that Nigeria is having a shortfall of 17 million housing stocks, noting that the country needs about 1.5 million housing units annually in the next 15 years to be able to withstand the test of time.
He chided the federal and governments for not addressing the problems of the shortfalls in the housing units, adding that the governments have failed in their responsibility to deliver housing units to Nigerians as expected.
According to him, from 2005 till this fiscal year, the housing stocks are going up, noting that unless governments intervene, the verdict will remain the same.
”If I had wanted to buy property abroad, I would have bought more than 20 units, but it does not worth it, so I encourage Nigerian investors to buy property in Nigeria, instead of going abroad to buy such property”, Omowole affirmed.
Some experts, who also spoke to National Mirror in Lagos said, despite the fact that Nigeria’s economy is facing serious capital flight; many Nigerians are still going abroad to invest. Investigations have shown that local investors, who are trying to invest in global property market would surely move abroad to fulfil their dream of owning luxury apartments.
While some investors regard getting property abroad as being risky, others regard it as not being risky, rather involves huge funds with attendant ability to pay as at when due.
Currently, there is increasing numbers of local investors looking abroad for mortgages and they might likely get better deals while others might risk their hard-earned investments.
For instance, in France, a 20 year fixed rate now stands at 3 percent, an all-time low. A French private finance research has shown a lax in banks criteria to include increased loan to value levels as mortgage products are opened to investors.
Presently, many banks abroad are willing to welcome borrowers, who simply work for stock markets that are listed on premium exchanges.
This will no doubt, means greater numbers of non-residents been able to access larger number of mortgage products.
Investigation further shows that many property buyers are moving to Britain, United States of America, Australia and New Zealand with fresh mandate to buy or let mortgages for an overseas property, thus gaining income while owning properties that are likely to appreciate in the long run Some local investors in Nigeria and some other African countries are seeing Dubai as an ideal place to invest.
Already, data has shown that foreign investors are spending about $35 billion on mortgages between March 2013 and September 2014, about 46 percent increase year-in, yearout. Rental properties in popular holiday destinations around the global are desirable elements of property portfolios that have potential for capital growth.
With Nigeria’s economy wobbling and fumbling, many local investors are thinking abroad with the sole mandate of making their investments worthwhile and Dubai seems to be benefiting from these imbalance deals.
