UK market presents lessons on AI for Nigerian landlords

Globally, the real estate market is witnessing a phenomenal shift driven mainly by technology. In most of the mature markets, including UK, artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a key role in the transition many landlords are making.

Increasingly, AI is becoming landlords’ most valuable predictive asset, and this is most pronounced in the commercial real estate (CRE) and workplace markets. It is also beginning to reshape commercial real estate.

What has historically been a reactive industry is becoming a predictive one, opening up huge opportunities for growth. And here lie the lessons Nigerian landlords need to learn.

Some Nigerian property brokers have, however, made remarkable progress in technology adoption and application in their operations. But that is largely at deal making level of the market.

Recently, at the inaugural Deal Makers Award by Estate Intel, a data-driven market intelligence platform, Broll Property Services and Trillium Real Estate Partners were honoured for exceptional performance in office leasing and capital market transactions.

The event marked a bold move towards transparency, credibility, and data-driven recognition in Nigeria’s commercial real estate sector, meaning that the Nigerian market is seeing some level of technology adoption, but maybe not much at the supply side.

In the UK market, PropertyWire, an online market research platform, reports that, over the past decade, commercial real estate has undergone a major shift towards operational models that resemble hospitality businesses more than traditional property management.

The report notes that flexible workspace accelerated that transition by placing customer experience, pricing strategy and occupancy management at the centre of asset performance.

“Artificial intelligence now represents the next step in that evolution, allowing operators and landlords to manage buildings with a level of data-driven insight that was previously impossible,” the report says, quoting Wilco Wijnbergen, Co-founder & CTO, infinitSpace.

Wijnbergen revealed that, at infinitSpace, AI is not a side experiment but something embedded within the core of their business, not because it is fashionable, but because landlords operating in an increasingly competitive market need better insight, stronger margins and faster decision-making.

“Used correctly, AI enables all three. The landlords who learn to use AI as a decision-making tool, rather than simply another piece of software, will ultimately outperform those who do not,” he assured.

Wijnbergen cautioned: “For landlords, however, this is not about replacing human relationships. Real estate remains a trust-based, people-first industry. Instead, AI is about enhancing those relationships through better intelligence, improving operational efficiency, and enabling more predictive decision-making.”

Another area where AI helps landlords a great deal is in market expansion where, in typical Nigerian approach, the landlord has to do what is commonly called “due diligence.”

Wijnbergen notes that, traditionally, analysing a new market meant days or weeks of manual research, where one might need teams of experienced professionals carrying out pricing comparisons, competitor analysis, local demand signals, and financial modelling.

“Today, AI can analyse local market conditions, startup density, hiring trends, funding activity, and pricing benchmarks in minutes. It can generate long-term financial projections and even produce tailored business cases for specific buildings.

For landlords, this capability is highly significant. It means operators can approach potential partnerships with data-backed proposals grounded in real-time market intelligence rather than assumptions,” he stated.

According to him, AI also means potential vacancies – even those not yet publicly marketed but where flex spaces could open within buildings – can be identified early, opening conversations before competitors even know the opportunity exists.