Buying Off-Plan in Lagos: A Complete Guide

Off-plan buying — committing to a property before it's built — has become one of the most common ways to enter the Lagos real estate market. Done right, it can lock in pricing well below completed-unit value and give you a say in finishes before a single wall goes up. Done carelessly, it can tie up your capital in a project that never finishes.

This guide walks through what actually matters.

Why buy off-plan at all?

The appeal is straightforward: you pay 2027 prices for a 2029 asset. Developers price early units lower to fund construction, and as the building rises, so does the price for whoever buys next. If the developer delivers, your equity grows before you've even moved in.

The catch is that "if." You're trusting a company to execute a multi-year construction plan, and your money is usually paid in stages well ahead of the keys being handed over.

What to check before you sign anything

1. Title documentation. Ask for the Certificate of Occupancy or Governor's Consent, and confirm the land isn't under any government acquisition notice. A developer who hesitates here is telling you something.
2. Track record. Has this developer completed and handed over a project before? Ask for the address of a prior delivery and go look at it yourself.
3. Payment plan structure. Payments should be tied to construction milestones, not an arbitrary calendar. If 80% is due before the foundation is poured, that's a red flag.
4. Escrow or direct payment? Some developers route buyer payments through an escrow arrangement tied to milestone verification. It's not universal in Nigeria, but it's worth asking about.
5. Exit clauses. What happens if the project is delayed by a year? Two years? Read the contract's delay and refund clauses before you read anything else.

A good developer will want you to ask these questions. A defensive answer to a reasonable question is itself an answer.

How David's Residence approaches this

We built our own process around the exact friction points buyers usually run into:

• Registered Conveyance and Deed of Assignment, not a lesser title class
• A live construction tracker so you can watch progress yourself instead of taking our word for it
• A fixed, milestone-linked payment schedule shared before you commit

You can book a site inspection and walk the actual plot before you decide on anything.

The bottom line

Off-plan isn't riskier than a completed purchase by default — it's riskier when the diligence gets skipped because the price looks good. Do the same checks you'd do on a finished building, just earlier, and ask to see proof rather than promises.