Integrating Sustainability into the Real Estate Valuation Process: A Nigerian Perspective

Abstract

This paper sought the perception of Nigerian real estate valuers on sustainable development and how sustainability can be integrated into the real estate valuation process in Nigeria. One hundred and sixty Estate Surveyors and Valuers were asked, among others, to rate the significance of a range of sustainability features on the market value of a hypothetical property based on the social, economic and environmental features that make up the triple bottom line of sustainability. The study showed evidences of a growing awareness of the need to mainstream sustainability into the real estate valuation process: though the majority of the respondents tended to define real estate sustainability only in terms of its social features leaving out the economic and environmental features. Nigerian valuers are therefore enjoined to broaden and improve on their present knowledge of sustainability to enable them to account for the phenomenon in their valuations as appropriate. the study identified the investors, the government, property occupier, and the estate surveyor and valuer (appraiser), in that order, as the frontline drivers of the sustainability crusade in the country.

Keywords: integration, perception, real estate, sustainability, valuation process.