Another spell of delay in projects’ delivery timeline and outright site abandonment are in the offing in the construction industry as prices of building materials, notably cement and iron rods, have gone up again.
The price of cement has moved up again from between N9000 and N9,500 per 50kg bag all through the first quarter (Q1) of 2025 to between N10,000 and N10,400 in April 2025, representing about N900 increase in less than 30 days.
Before climbing to N9,500, a 50k bag of cement was selling for between N7000 and N7,500. That was between June and August 2024. Before this time too, the product was selling at rates below N6,000 per bag.
Sebastine Ogie, a Lagos-based dealer, confirmed the new price increase to BusinessDay on Tuesday, saying that Dangote brand of the product now sells for N10,100; BUA at N10,000, while Lafarge goes for N10,200 per bag.
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“That’s the way Nigeria is going now. Anyone who wants to build a house now should arrange good money and keep. The N10,000 per bag of cement means one has to vote a minimum of N2 million for cement alone to build a four-bedroom bungalow,” Ogie said.
The construction industry in Nigeria is expected to grow by 3.1 per cent this year, supported by a rise in construction loans and investment in infrastructure projects, according to a report by Global Data.
But Ayo Ibaru, CEO, Northcourt, noted at CNBC Africa discourse on real estate market trends in Q1 and outlook for 2025, noted that building material costs and a high housing deficit, coupled with a grappling inflation rate, are likely to weigh on the construction industry over the short term.
“Building materials are very expensive now,” Bayo Omoluabi wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) at the weekend, recalling that a bag of cement was selling for N5,000 in early 2023, but is now sold for N10,000, depending on the brand.
Omoluabi recalled further that a ton of iron rod cost between N450,000 and N500,000 in 2022, but now sells for between N1 million and N1.1 million per ton.
Experts have blamed the rising cost of these materials on the unstable interest rate regime, which affects imports. They also finger and inflation for the fresh price surge, noting that “despite a projected drop in inflation to 17 percent in 2025, down from over 34 percent in December 2024, the cost of building and construction remains high due to currency depreciation and persistent forex scarcity.”
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“Construction budgets are now facing cost overruns of up to 25 percent year-on-year. Developers and homeowners are navigating significant uncertainty, with price projections showing continued hikes in core materials,” they noted.
According to Henry Ovie, besides iron rods, the price of steel bars, which are heavily reliant on imports, is also expected to jump from N480,000–N550,000 per ton in 2023 to between N620,000 and N720,000 by 2025.
Sharp sand and granite are also projected to increase due to fuel costs and quarry licensing delays, with sharp sand potentially reaching N50,000 per ton and granite as high as N60,000 per ton.
Ovie also reasoned that Nigeria’s $2.7 trillion National Development Plan (2021–2025), which prioritises infrastructure, is driving up demand for building materials. “While this may spur growth, it can also trigger a rise in costs if not carefully managed,” he said.
