Stakeholders have called on the government to grant tax holidays to developers as a means to stimulate investment and bolster growth in the housing sector.
They stated this at the Real Estate Outlook for 2024 themed “Looking Ahead, Gauging Opportunities”, held in Lagos recently.
The President of the International Real Estate Federation, Nigeria chapter, Gladstone Okpara, urged the Federal Government to give tax holidays to developers to aid affordability.
“The tax authorities are bombarding the built sector without reason and they do not know that they stifling the businesses of those paying these taxes. For instance, when developers are being stifled and the money to do their businesses is no longer sufficient, like in other climes, the government can state that for some time taxation is reduced or removed to enable accessibility to affordability and increase the homeownership rate.
“The tax generation is uncontrolled and the management of the tax collection is not mature at all, leading to the kind of stifled built environment we now have.”
In the same vein, the Chief Executive Officer of UPDC Plc, Odunayo Ojo, advocated the harmonisation of taxes to avoid duplicity in the industry.
He said, “Tax can be a way of catalysing economic recovery through tax holidays, ensuring that taxes are not just used for revenue generation but also as a value-adding process.”
Ojo asserted that landed property in the country was limited, adding that anything that could be done to make provision for enough land was welcomed.
He said, “Land is very limited in supply, therefore, anything that can be done to optimise the use of land is welcomed. We have a lot of valuable land that is currently being under-utilised or turning into slums.
“So, when we have urban regeneration plans, it makes those valuable parcels of land available to developers to work with.
“In addition, instead of replacing parcels of land with low-rise buildings, because of the increasing population, medium to high-rise should be constructed to increase density. But more importantly, ensuring that infrastructure is also planned to support the density increase is part of the urban regeneration plan.”
Similarly, Opara asserted that there was a need for expansion and maximisation by providing adequate policies to be implemented in that regard.
He said, “Rather than building down, we can move up (high-rise buildings) creating more affordable housing for low and middle-income earners to access with ease.”
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