MerryBells Corporate Services Limited, an indigenous real estate firm, has advised investors to cash-in on the current economic recession in Nigeria by investing in real estate.

It also stated that after a research conducted by its team of experts in the Federal Capital Territory, it was observed that the demand for low-cost houses was over 75 per cent, whereas about 80 per cent of buildings in Abuja satellite towns were luxurious houses.

The firm’s Executive Director for Admin, Mr. Oluyemi McDickson, disclosed this on the sidelines of a housing promo organised by MerryBells for its clients in the FCT to commemorate its second year of operations in Abuja.

He said, “As a real estate firm that is very much aware of the fact that the Nigerian economy is doing badly now, one thing we tell people is that there is hardly an economy that enters recession that will not bounce back. And one of the things that cushion the effects of a recession is to invest in real estate.

“So, what we are doing presently in our company is that when we observed what the government of Nigeria termed technical recession, we decided to slash down the prices of our properties across board. We started with five per cent slash, hoping that the economy would bounce back in the shortest time.

“But as the recession persisted, we increased it to 10 per cent and for this promo, we slashed down prices by 30 per cent. This was done basically to attract people to invest in real estate notwithstanding the complaints about economic recession, because those who buy into this idea now will rejoice when the economy eventually takes shape.”

On the research conducted in Abuja on the rate of demand for houses, McDickson explained that despite the large number of luxurious buildings in the federal capital, only 25 per cent of the structures were either purchased or rented.

PUNCH.