Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and workers cooperative societies were top of considerations as experts gathered in Abuja recently to discuss the way forward for affordable housing delivery in Nigeria.

Though the REITs market is still evolving in this country, it is considered a good opportunity for financial intermediation in the housing sector and, according to the experts who gathered for the 11th edition of the annual Abuja Housing Show (AHS), cooperatives have the capacity to amass and coordinate household savings towards homeownership.

But to achieve the 2030 target of affordable housing for all, Kecia Rust of the Centre for Affordable Housing Finance, South Africa, believes that investors need access to finance while household affordability needs to be broken down, hence the need for REITs and cooperatives.

In the developed economies of the world, REIT is a major catalyst for the growth of the real estate market and a close look at the performance of the REITs markets shows that domestic and foreign investors are more attracted to properly structured REITs, which is why Nigerians are being encouraged to look out for such an instrument.