Last week we explored the fundamentals making Property Technology (PROPTECH) a major inflection point in the Nigerian Real Estate Sector, and the huge potentials it presents for transforming the scope of transactions in the near future.
PropTech opportunities and its ongoing deployment ranges from Property listing portals (the most predominant segment as demonstrated by castles.ng, nigerianpropertycenter.com; propertypro.ng and neighborhoodreview.com), Virtual Reality or digital walkthrough solutions (which the Covid-19 restrictions have made more popular), Co-living or Flexi Home Platforms (such as Fibre and Muster), Investment platforms (such as Coreum, Firsthomes and STOW), and Smart home solutions which seeks to digitize and make homes more secure and energy efficient.
All these varying platforms and web portals seek to collectively revolutionize activities in the real estate sector and this in itself will make the sector more efficient and less opaque.
STOW HOME PURCHASE PLAN
The STOW Home Purchase Plan is a demand aggregator app designed to be a closed platform for sellers and buyers of new-build and off-plan homes in Nigeria.
STOW has been designed to enable the delivery of guaranteed homes; provide payment flexibility that enhances affordability to prospective home buyers and investors; offer listed developers a secure market for offtake of their developed homes; ensure the viability of all listed projects by pre-affirming their title and statutory planning status and essentially assure investors of the security of their investment.
STOW was launched in October 2020 and is available online as a portal – www.stow.ng and on the APPLE and GOOGLE play store as a digital app. STOW currently has over 1700 subscribers enlisted and we have launched it with OCTO5 pilot projects located in Lagos and Abuja. The plan, over time, is to onboard more vetted properties on the platform to make the process of home ownership more accessible, secure and affordable for Nigerians.
We intend to onboard other prequalified developers within the next six months. STOW is designed to enable home purchase for first-time buyers and property investors. It only offers off-plan or new-build homes in Nigeria.
We believe that the STRENGTH of STOW is that it addresses issues of due diligence; simplifies sales closings and enables easy project tracking.
With STOW, an investor now has a dual layer of security and accountability for his/her property investments. STOW encourages accountability, as real-time feeds give buyers regular updates and actual work progress, coupled with the integration of online payment platforms, which guarantees that ALL STOW transactions are traceable.
Next week, we shall explore the emerging viable locations for real estate investing in Nigeria.
STAY SAFE & STAY PRODUCTIVE
The OCTO5 RESEARCH Team