Greed responsible for unoccupied houses in Abuja’

A Real Estate expert, Alhaji Musa Paiko, has attributed greedy as one of the factors responsible for the high rate of unoccupied houses in Abuja.
Paiko, who spoke in an interview with our correspondent, however, called on the governor to intervene by enacting laws that will checkmate landlords to reduce prices of their property by 50 percent.
He said: “The problems of unoccupied property in Abuja are in two dimensions.
One, money is not much in circulation and secondly, property owners are very greedy.
Under normal circumstances, investment in a house is supposed to be recouped within fifteen years, but landlords would want that to be within the next five years.
“As a result, they fix high prices on their property.
A house that is supposed to be for N500,000 is fixed at N1m.
Also, a N1m house is fixed at N3 million, while a N3m house is fixed at N7m.
So, people can’t afford it because of the economic situation of the country at the moment.
“On the other hand, some people believe that anyone living in Abuja is a millionaire.
Not everyone can live in Asokoro, Maitama or Gwarinpa because of the high cost of accommodation in Abuja.
Only few people stay in these areas, while the rest of the population stays in settlement areas because of the affordability of housing there.
“While you can’t get rooms for less than N500, 000 in the developed areas in Abuja, you can actually get accommodation for N30,000, N50,000, N100, 000 and above in the settlement areas, depending on your budget’’.
O n t h e w a y f o r w a rd , h e s a i d : “Government has to intervene by putting laws in place to checkmate landlords to reduce prices of their property by 50 percent so that people can afford them.
On the part of individuals, landlords should know that we are all humans and that it’s God that blessed them with those property; so they should not use it to intimidate others’’.