Property development is a multifaceted, dynamic and risky enterprise. Property development projects are fraught with risks and uncertainties spanning through the stages of the development process. Risk and uncertainty, if not well managed, could have harmful impacts on development project by affecting time, quality, and cost of such project. In Nigeria, evidences abound of property development failures and abandonments with the attendant social, environmental and economic consequences. Development projects are abandoned before completion or completed projects are not disposed over six months. In other cases, completed projects are foreclosed by development lenders due to inability of the developers to service their loans. These problems could be attributed to development companies not employing formal strategic risk management in project evaluation. The aim of this paper is to review literature and previous research on application of risk management techniques in property development industry with a view to identify the possibility for further research in Nigeria. The review used various sources such as textbooks, journal articles, reports, masters' dissertations and doctoral theses relevant to the study. The review showed that, generally, risk management is still largely handled in a subjective manner. Any notion that developers are now applying a wide range of rigourous and sophisticated risk management techniques is erroneous as this is scarcely manifested in actual practice. In the Nigerian context, there is probably no research on risk management by development companies; few risk management studies were limited to risk analysis/assessment; while others focused on building construction risk which is just one of the stages in the property development process. This paper recommends the development of an advanced risk management framework applicable to the Nigerian property development industry.

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One of the crucial challenges facing real estate development in Nigeria is finance. The informal sources of finance are grossly inadequate, and access to formal finance instruments is difficult. This study aimed at investigating the potential of REIT structure as an option for financing real estate development in Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to; evaluate the external factors influencing the performance, future growth and development of N-REITs as it affects funding of real estate development projects; and appraise the future prospects of N-REITs as a viable option in financing real estate development projects. A survey research design was adopted for the study. A sample of 275 stakeholders comprising 221 real estate developers, and 54 senior staff members of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), all in Abuja, were conveniently selected for the study. Frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were used to analyse the data. Findings show that equity capital (47.8%), commercial banks (26.2%), and mortgage banks (16.5%) are the major sources of real estate development finance in Nigeria. The key external factors influencing N-REITs performance were strategic property locations (4.43 ± 0.82), tax treatment (4.34 ± 0.78), and political risks (4.10 ± 1.12); while the most important prospects of N-REITs in financing real estate development projects include; increase in supply of real properties (4.1 ± 1.02), portfolio diversification (3.88 ± 1.10), and liquidity in real estate sector (3.69 ± 1.22). The study concludes that, in implementing high level sensitisation, transparency, infrastructure provision and review of regulations guiding REIT’s operation, N-REIT most probably becomes a viable option for financing real estate development.

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