Almost every property investment pitch in Lagos quotes a rental yield. Very few explain how it was calculated, whether it is gross or net, or where the underlying data came from.
Since the number frequently drives the decision, it is worth understanding properly.
The calculation
Gross rental yield is annual rental income divided by purchase price, expressed as a percentage. A property bought at ₦320,000,000 and let at ₦22,400,000 a year produces a 7% gross yield.
Net rental yield subtracts the costs of ownership first: service charge, agency and management fees, maintenance, insurance, void periods when the property sits empty, and applicable taxes. Net is always lower than gross, often materially so.
When a marketing document quotes a yield without saying which it is, assume gross.
What published data reports for 2026
Independent sources give a range rather than a single figure, and they measure different things:
Knight Frank's Africa Report 2026/27 reports a 5.5% residential yield for Nigeria in 2026, a national figure rather than a Lagos or Lekki one.
Nigeria Property Centre's Q3 2026 market report puts Lagos 3-bedroom properties at 6.8% gross rental yield.
GoTerra's 2026 Lagos dataset gives Lekki, covering Phase 1 and the wider axis, a gross rental yield range of 7% to 9%.
The spread between these is not an error: they cover different geographies, property types and methodologies. That is exactly why a single quoted percentage deserves scrutiny.
How to sanity-check a yield claim
Ask gross or net. If nobody can tell you, the number was not calculated carefully.
Ask for the rental comparable. A yield is only as good as the assumed rent. Ask what similar units in the same area actually let for, and verify independently.
Ask about voids. A yield calculated on twelve months of occupancy is optimistic; premium units can sit empty between tenancies.
Ask about the service charge. In amenity-rich buildings this is the single largest deduction between gross and net.
Check the source and the date. A yield figure without a source and a year is marketing, not data.
A note on how we talk about this
We do not publish a projected rental yield for our developments. Yields depend on the unit, the rent achieved, the costs incurred and the period, none of which a developer controls.
What can be said accurately is that Lekki Phase 1 is an established premium residential market with rental demand from residents seeking well-connected, amenity-rich homes. Anyone modelling returns should use the published sources above, apply their own costs, and reach their own number.
