NEIGHBOURHOOD INFRASTRUCTURE CONDITIONS: INDICATOR FOR IDEAL RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY INVESTMENT RETURNS IN ABUJA, NIGERIA

Functional neighbourhood infrastructure creates the platform for real estate investment market toflourish and also enhances returns on propertyinvestment (both rental and capitalappreciation).This study focused on the assessment of the effect of neighbourhood infrastructureconditions as indicator for ideal residential property investment returns in Abuja. The studyadopted stratified random sampling technique and structured survey questionnaires wereadministered to get relevant data from practicing estate surveyors and valuers and residents ofselected neighbourhoods in Abuja, Nigeria. Out of 1,302 questionnaires administered in theselected neighbourhoods, in Abuja, 718 were duly completed, returned and retained for theanalysis. Descriptive Mean method of data analysis was employed, coefficient of variation andSpearman’s Rank-Order Correlation Modelwere used to compare the property investment returnin the selected areas of Abuja. It was discovered that,the infrastructure condition indices in WuseII and Maitama is higher than ideal condition index (Benchmark), ranges between 82%-92% and81%-94% when compared with average international standard at 60%, while infrastructureconditions in Kubwa and Lugbe found a bit below the average international standard condition.Kubwa and Lugbe property market of Abuja performed better than Maitama and Wuse on thebasis of risk-return ratio analysis, of which Lugbe and Kubwa revealed the most consistentproperty market performance while Maitama and Wuse residential market showed high levelmarket volatility due to risky nature of the market.Kubwa and Lugbe markets showed a stablemarket at minimum risk ranges between 8%-36%.The study concluded that, infrastructure havesignificant impact on residential property investment returns and this implies that, infrastructuredevelopment should be taken very seriously in order to achieve sound real estate investmentdecision making