Real Estate Stakeholders’ Forum 2025 Charts a New Course for Housing and Investment Reform in Lagos

Raheem Akingbolu

The Inaugural Real Estate Stakeholders’ Forum, 2025, was held on Tuesday, September 16, 2025 at Harbour Point, Victoria Island, where all the different speakers took to the stage to express their pains and challenges that the Nigerian Real Estate industry is currently facing.

Speaking one after the other, speakers at the forum called on all the major stakeholders of the Real Estate industry to take the bull by the horns in the nation’s development.

The event which attracted over 1,000 leading developers, investors, policymakers, financial institutions, and allied professionals, addressed Nigeria’s pressing housing and investment challenges.
The Forum featured keynote addresses, panel discussions, and fireside chats tackling urgent sectoral concerns, including affordable housing delivery, land use reforms, modular housing innovations, and financing gaps.

One of the event’s landmark outcomes was the unanimous adoption of the Real Estate Developers Association of Nigeria (REDAN) to champion the cause of stakeholders by presenting their jointly issued communiqué to the government. This document, crafted through broad consensus, consolidates stakeholder demands to accelerate housing reforms, streamline land titling, reduce multiple taxation, and unlock new investment opportunities for sustainable urban development.

Speaking at the event, Barr. Festus Adebayo noted: “The critical problem facing us today is housing affordability,” while also stressing that “We need to professionalize real estate development.”

In his keynote, Professor Timothy Nubi, Director, Centre for Housing and Sustainable Development, University of Lagos, emphasized collaboration as the pathway forward: “Collaboration between the government and real estate developers is essential for unlocking Lagos’ full potential. No entity can thrive in isolation; partnership is key to successful urban development.”

By adopting REDAN to lead this charge, stakeholders emphasized their confidence in the association’s capacity to coordinate follow-up engagement and ensure that the communiqué receives the attention of policymakers. The Forum also resolved to produce a Policy Advisory Document, offering deeper technical analysis and actionable steps for Lagos State’s Urban and Regional Planning Department, with wider implications for national housing reform.

The Forum closed with renewed optimism and a shared commitment to creating a more inclusive, innovative, and investment-friendly real estate ecosystem in Nigeria.