The Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria has revealed that the dearth of real estate investment trusts on the market has seen investment in that segment shrink over the years.

This was disclosed in an analysis of the investments of PFAs in REITs and real estate in the past five years shared on its official Instagram page on Tuesday.

According to the Nigerian Exchange Limited, REITs are corporations or trusts that use the pooled capital of many investors to purchase and manage income property and/or mortgage loans. 

The PenOp analysis showed that investment in REITs had declined from a high of N239.28bn in 2020 to N20.06bn at the end of 2024.

Within the five years, the lowest point was in 2022, when investment in REITs dropped to N14.14bn from N153.52bn in 2021. It, however, recovered slightly to N21.04bn in 2023 before the latest decline in 2024.

As investment dried up in REITs, direct investment in real estate has gone up.

In 2024, investment in real estate stood at N273.06bn, higher than it was in 2023 at N245.34bn.

Five years earlier, investment in real estate had been merely N5.13bn.