COVID–19 Impacts: Government Interventions and Residential Housing Prices in Lagos Metropolis

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had profound impact on global economies. Various studies have focused on the impact of COVID-19 interventions on the financial market such as stocks markets, but few studies examined government interventions influence on housing market, particularly the housing price. This paper explores the influence of the government interventions during COVID-19 on housing prices in the residential areas of Lagos Metropolis in Nigeria. The aim is to understand whether price variations can be attributed to the epidemic shocks, by employing a review of literature on government interventions for COVID 19 pandemic and housing prices (2009 & 2015) before the pandemic and 2020 Lagos Property Market Consensus Report during the pandemic. Descriptive statistics were deployed in the application of difference-in-difference method for data analysis. The findings revealed that a lesser percentage of housing price increase was associated with the decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases and less partial lockdown measures. While a higher percentage housing price increase was associated with an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases along with more stringent full lockdown measures. The study concluded that housing price change was influenced by government interventions during COVID-19 pandemic in the Lagos Metropolis. The study recommends that to reduce the spread of COVID-19 infections in order to ensure a lesser percentage increase in housing price, spacious and more affordable housing units should be encouraged. Therefore, the effectiveness of lockdown and restriction measures should be further assessed, given their impacts on individual liberties and housing affordability.