Nigeria’s real estate sector reached an inflection point in 2025, with several structural shifts that helped to reshape the industry. These developments are now set to drive opportunities, innovation, and transformation across the market in 2026.
For investors, developers, policymakers, and homebuyers, the outlook suggests a market increasingly influenced by blended finance, solar-first estates and green development, data and PropTech adoption, stronger governance frameworks, as well as land reform and regulatory digitisation.
Blended finance, in particular, is gaining traction as a critical mortgage financing innovation. The approach combines commercial lending with lower-cost capital, often from government or institutional sources, to reduce mortgage interest rates and improve access to affordable housing.
Olugbenga Alamu, chief operating officer at QShelter Limited, explained to BusinessDay that blended finance or mortgage involves blending subsidised government capital with commercial loans, institutional financing, and private equity to reduce mortgage rates and to drastically improve access to homeownership.
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He cited the Ministry of Finance Integrated (MOFI) Real Estate Investment Fund (MREIF) current rate of 9.75 percent, which dropped from the original 12 percent, as a result of blending the 12 percent rate with pension fund rate, among others.
Kehinde Ogundimu, MD/CEO, Nigeria Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC), had also told BusinessDay that, in pursuit of their mandate to improve liquidity in the mortgage system and drag down interest rate, NMRC has been providing mortgage at the blended interest rate.
At a two-day conference hosted by Real Estate Discussions & Awards (REDA) in November 2025, blended finance was top of the conversation. Discussants agreed that, in 2026, this development would trigger more partnerships between the government and private developers, mortgage products designed for middle-income earners, faster completion of affordable housing projects, and increased accessibility for first-time homebuyers.
Alongside financing reforms, solar-first estates and green development are expected to gain prominence in 2026. While sustainability was largely aspirational in 2025, it is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage, with solar-powered estates being delivered more efficiently than conventional smart-home projects.
Victoria Crest Homes (VCH) is one of the leading developers in this space. The firm has unveiled several fully solar-powered communities in Lagos, including their flagship project, Citadel Views Estate.
According to Ichechi Chinarhu Okonkwo, the firm’s MD/CEO, this initiative is aimed to provide sustainable and cost-effective living solutions for residents, noting that it is also aimed to address the challenges of high energy costs and unreliable power supply.
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VCH, which is a subsidiary of Nedcomoaks Group founded by Kennedy Okonkwo, focuses on affordable luxury housing.
Okonkwo disclosed that developers are shifting priorities from expensive automation systems to energy-efficient, power-stable communities, powered by solar infrastructure, adding that some estates are now delivered with zero generators, demonstrating how renewable energy can drastically reduce operational costs and improve liveability.
Data, PropTech, and Consumer Intelligence are being adopted by propTech innovators and major developers such as Purple Group and Novare Real Estate who are of the view that data and proptech will shape development decisions in 2026.
According to them, “Every developer is sitting on data, but only a few know how to use it.”
Many developers are also leveraging Wi-Fi insights, digital payment patterns, tenant analytics, loyalty programme data, foot traffic measurement, and demographic mapping to build more accurate, customer-focused real estate products.
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It is expected that, in 2026, developers will use data to decide what to build, where to build, and who to build for.
PropTech adoption is expected to skyrocket, while retail centres, malls, estates, and co-working spaces will become more user-driven. Developers relying on outdated assumptions will struggle to compete, and data-driven development will become the new industry standard.
In 2026, it is expected that developers evolve from small, informal operators into properly structured real estate companies to attract institutional funding, foreign investment, government-backed financing, and joint venture opportunities.
It is also expected that land reform and regulatory digitisation transform ownership in 2026. Government officials who were at the REDA conference reported some reforms in recent years, including Lagos State’s fully digital cadastral system, where over five million properties have been mapped.
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