Considerations for the design and management of property database in opaque markets. Viewpoints from Lagos, Nigeria
| Published date | 05 August 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPIF-10-2018-0080 |
| Date | 05 August 2019 |
| Pages | 445-454 |
| Author | Daramola Thompson Olapade,Benjamin Gbolahan Ekemode,Abel Olaleye |
| Subject Matter | Property management & built environment,Real estate & property,Property valuation & finance |
Considerations for the design and
management of property database
in opaque markets
Viewpoints from Lagos, Nigeria
Daramola Thompson Olapade, Benjamin Gbolahan Ekemode and
Abel Olaleye
Department of Estate Management,
Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria
Abstract
Purpose –Earlier studies have suggested the creation of a central database of concluded property
transactions as a panacea to the property data debacle. It is in this regard that the purpose of this paper is to
examine the perception of potential users of centralised property database on the considerationfor the design
and management of such database.
Design/methodology/approach –Questionnaires were administered on 190 property practitioners
(referred as estate surveying and valuation firms) in Lagos property market. Frequency index, frequency
distribution and percentage were employed for data analysis.
Findings –The result showed that respondents preferred a web-based databank and free access to the
information in the databank by those who recorded their market data in it. They also preferred uniform
recordingstandard in the databank, an interfacethat must be user friendlyand secure to prevent unauthorised
user from gainingaccess, amongst others.The practitioners also preferredthat their professionalbody manage
the databank when itis created.
Practical implications –The paper provides useful insights into creating a property database that will
improve accessibility to property data in opaque markets.
Originality/value –There is still little or no empirical research on framework/end-users’requirements for
the creation of property transaction database in emerging property markets.
Keywords Valuation, Database, Lagos, Data debacle, Market data, Opaque market
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Unlike the stock markets where data on current market prices of shares are easily accessible
by simply consulting the pages of newspapers, calling a broker, logging into a website or
watching TV news, property market data are scarce. Data concerning sale prices, lease
terms and any other agreements, which are part of a transaction, are usually not available to
individuals who are not party to the transaction (Fisher and Martins, 2007; Olapade and
Olaleye, 2018, 2019). This, coupled with infrequent transaction and heterogeneity of
property, makes it difficult for participants in the property market to acquire information on
the market (Huges, 2015). The market participants are thereby constrained from searching
and analysing the necessary property data due to the lack of reliable and accessible sources
of information (Yang et al., 2015).
The challenges of data accessibility in the property market have been blamed on the lack
of centralised database of property transactions, and the solution suggested to remedy this
situation was to improve property data management practice particularly as it relates to
accessing and disseminating property data (Rowley et al., 1998a; Ajibola and Oloyede, 2010;
Olapade and Olaleye, 2018, 2019). For example, The Mallinson Report (RICS, 1994) advised
members of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors to co-operate in the production of
central database of property transactions. Rowley et al. (1996) also supported this view by
advocating the combination of transactional data of surveyors in the UK and pooling it into
Journal of Property Investment &
Finance
Vol. 37 No. 5, 2019
pp. 445-454
© Emerald PublishingLimited
1463-578X
DOI 10.1108/JPIF-10-2018-0080
Received 20 October 2018
Revised 24 April 2019
Accepted 24 April 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1463-578X.htm
445
Design and
management
of property
database
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