Following the introduction and growth of modern retail across Nigeria over the last decade, more investors – international and domestic alike – are pouring capital into the development of shopping malls. An analysis of completed, planned and on-going shopping center developments illustrates that it costs these investors $4,109 per square meter to complete these malls. As the graphic below shows, malls in Lagos are slightly more expensive costing $4,285 on average, $4,087 in Abuja and $3,942 in emerging Nigerian cities. The variance in development costs for Lagos may be as a result of high land costs put together with lengthy and expensive land acquisition processes.

Resilient, RMB Westport, Persians, Actis, Novare, UPDC and Grand Towers are among existing investors, however others including Momentum and Stanlib are keen to make flagship investments into the retail sector. These investors, with development funds in excess of $100 million see an exciting opportunity for retail in an increasingly urban country with little formal retail supply.

See the table below for details on development costs for malls across Nigeria.