Cement Price Surges by 367% – Report

Prop Comms Africa, a real estate intelligence, media, and growth platform, says Nigeria’s housing supply is contracting amid rising construction costs, driven by a sharp increase in cement prices.

The firm, in its “Build Cost, Broken Market” report released in March, the price of a 50kg bag of cement — a critical construction input — has risen from between N2,500 and N3,000 in 2019 to between N11,500 and N15,000 as of March 2026.

The report noted that the increase represents a surge of up to 367 percent in seven years and 30 percent within the first quarter (Q1) of 2026. The firm added that the rising cost of other building materials has also risen, with steel up 20 percent, sharp sand 25 percent, and iron rods increasing by more than 120 percent in select periods.

“Projects are being abandoned, budgets renegotiated, and housing supply is contracting precisely when Nigeria’s reported 28-million-unit deficit demands the opposite,” the report said.

“Urban rents have more than doubled. Homeownership has become economically inaccessible for most low and middle-income Nigerians.”