The changing face of the property business in Nigeria

Up until quite recently, buying, selling and renting property in Nigeria began and ended face-to-face. There were very few websites where one could regularly search and view pictures and details of  the latest properties in Nigeria. The lack of digital infrastructure meant that a few companies like Diya Fatmilehin dominated the property industry for decades, dealing in the property business offline. One quickly got familiar with their logo displayed on the “For sale” signs on houses around Lagos, which provided  the general assurance that one would not find that one had paid “agency fees” to an 18 year old boy a laptop and a baba-in-crime.

Over the last 5 years or so, the Nigerian property online tradition has transitioned from “Call for details” to “Click here for more photos” . With the advent of accessible internet and online classified advertising websites, competition is driving property advertisers to be less information-shy in their advertisements, in order not to “carry last”… as it is only a matter of clicks until the potential customer finds what they are looking for. Here are a few Nigerian property search engines, and what MrPepe thinks of them:

• http://www.privateproperty.com.ng/ : Easy to navigate, search by state, rich catalogue, pictures available, prices listed, but mostly high-end properties.
• http://www.rentng.com/ : Aethestically beautiful website, with search by state feature, pictures , but limited properties listed
• http://www.nigeriapropertycentre.com/ : Aethestically beautiful website, pictures, prices and post request features. Properties for all budgets, and in all states available.
• http://www.propertyindex.com.ng/ :  Wellorganised website, but with limited properties listed. Prices and pictures available.
• http://www.ip4properties.com/ : Uno-rganised, but robust portfolio with properties from several agents. Limited pictures, but contact details readily available. Several non-functional links.
• http://nigeria-property.com/ : Poorly organised website but wide scope of property listings covering other African countries.
• http://www.makeitnigeria.com/ : Patriotic, but chaotic website, but with useful information on available short-term properties & car hire in Lagos. Mostly for the short-term visitors to Nigeria.
• http://www.nigeriapropertiesonline.com/ : Unorganised website, but with wanted adverts as well as property ads. Very few pictures.
• http://nigerianpropertymarket.com/ : Highly organised website, lots of pictures, includes mortgaged properties &  features properties nationwide.
• http://www.guide2nigeria.com/property_in_Nigeria : Lots of photographs, but unavailable pricing information.
• http://www.nigeriaproperties.biz/ : Up-to-date website with minimal pictures.