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Students are the hub of activities in an academic environment, and their satisfaction with the performance of educational facilities cannot be overemphasised. Therefore, this study evaluated the post-occupation of students' halls of residence in Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Nigeria with a view to enhancing effective management of educational facilities.

Data were collected from 245 students who were selected using simple random sampling technique. The study adopted descriptive statistical tools such as mean, standard deviation and Relative Importance Index (RII); the inferential statistical tools adopted were independent-samples t-test and Kendall Tau's correlation.

The results revealed that both genders were fairly satisfied with physical attributes, indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and social factors; while the female students were also fairly satisfied with the supporting service, the male students were fairly dissatisfied. Also, supporting services and IEQ influenced the levels of satisfaction of both genders.

This study provides information which can help the management of the University and other comparative educational institutions in the proper management of students' halls of residence.

This study has provided insight into the satisfaction of student occupants with halls of residence based on gender differentiation.

This study aims to analyse the criteria used in measuring the determinants of the adoption of virtual reality (VR) technology in real estate agency practice in Lagos, with a view to providing information with which the practice can be enhanced.

The data for the study were elicited using a questionnaire which was administered to eight real estate firms (REFs). The firms were those that have been operating in Lagos for at least five years, and the data collected were analysed using the DEMATEL method.

The findings revealed that perceived utility and relative advantage were the most important criteria for determining REFs' performance expectancy with VR technology. The two most important criteria to measure effort expectancy were “perceived ease of use” and complexity. “Subjective norms” was the most important criterion for measuring social influence, while “perceived behavioural control” was the most important criterion to measure facilitating conditions. Under “price value”, output quality was the only significant criterion. Finally, the frequency of use, the actual number of use and the amount of time spent utilising the technology were significant for measuring the REFs' use behaviour.

The study offers insights into the criteria that can assist REFs in integrating VR technology into real estate agency practice. The results are also helpful to the Nigerian real estate professional bodies to organise workshop programmes for REFs on the use of VR technology and other disruptive technologies. The results will also serve as a guide for REFs to gain a competitive advantage in this trying time of pandemic and help them measure up to global standards and the expectations of their clients.

Before this study, efforts have not been made to study the criteria for measuring the determinants of VR technology adoption in the Nigerian real estate agency practice.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which variations in gender, socioeconomic and academic background influence real estate students’ academic performance in Nigeria.

Data for the study were collected using self-administered questionnaire, served on final year real estate students in two of the three Federal universities offering real estate as a course in Southwestern Nigeria. Data collected were analyzed using mean, frequency count, percentages, independent t-test, correlation and analysis of variance.

The result of the study suggests there is no statistically significant difference in the academic performance of Nigerian real estate students based on gender and socioeconomic background.

The study has been limited to the sensitivity of either gender to possibly constraining socioeconomic and academic factors that might have served as barriers, especially among female students, in achieving outstanding academic performance.

This paper presents one of the few attempts examining gender and socioeconomic perspectives to factors influencing real estate students’ academic performance, especially from the perception of an emerging African country like Nigeria.

Coworking space had been a trajectory in the commercial space operation and management globally. Commercial coworking/tenancy space is confronted with an unexpected shift. This paper aims to examine the peculiarity and investment characteristics of flexible office space and the post-COVID implications on coworking office space practice and investment. This is with a view toward providing investors with an understanding of the dynamics underpinning flexible office space investment in the Nigerian emerging property market.

This study adopted a qualitative research approach. Open-ended interview questions were used to solicit information from nine coworking space operators in the urban property market of Ibadan, Nigeria. The structured interview data were analyzed using Atlas.ti – a computer-aided qualitative data analysis software.

The findings show that the factors influencing demand for flexible office space in the study area include flexibility, affordability, cost-effectiveness, entrepreneurship motivations and opportunity for risk sharing. The results also revealed that coworkers are predominantly mobile individuals who require a workstation away from their homes or a traditional office setup. Management challenges include deficient infrastructure, low level of awareness, stealing and high cost of operations. The impact of COVID-19 includes a drop in patronage, rent refunds, changes in working pattern and job loss, restriction to online and remote operation, the extra cost of putting prevention measures in place, changes in tenancy contract and drops in return on investment.

This study has implications for investors in commercial space occupation and leases in comparable developing economies.

The novelty of this paper lies in its relevance with the emergent behavioral changes, orchestrated from the novel COVID-19, which compels reevaluation of workplace practices and investment for economic improvement, especially as it relates to commercial real estate investment.

The study analysed the factors influencing real estate firms' (REFs) decision to adopt virtual reality (VR) technology using the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method. This was done to enhance the practice of real estate agency in Nigeria.

Data were elicited from eight real estate experts. These experts were heads of the agency department of firms that had been in existence for a minimum of five years in the Lagos property market. The data analysed in this study were collected with the aid of a questionnaire.

The result revealed that use intention was influenced by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation, price value and UB. Also, facilitating conditions, habit and use intention did not influence use behaviour. Overall, six constructs, which include price value (R_i − C_j value = 0.1284), use behaviour (R_i − C_j value = 0.0666), social influence (R_i − C_j value = 0.0583), facilitating conditions (R_i − C_j value = 0.0323), performance expectancy (R_i − C_j value = 0.0196) and effort expectancy (R_i − C_j value = 0.0116), were significant predictors of the factors influencing the decision of REFs to adopt VR. Of these constructs, the R_i − C_j values indicated that price value had the highest causative influence.

The result of this study will bring REFs to the consciousness of the factors that could affect their adoption of VR technology. This study will also assist the Nigerian Institution of Estate Surveyors and Valuers in appropriately enlightening REFs on the integration of VR technology into the agency practice especially at this time when all health protocols and guidelines need to be observed to help flatten the curve of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This study is the first to have an insight into the analysis of the factors influencing REFs' decision to adopt VR technology using the DEMATEL method.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the challenges to data sharing among construction stakeholders in the South African construction industry and also assess stakeholders’ perceptions of the benefits of data sharing.

This study is a cross-sectional survey administered via a Web-based online survey on construction professionals registered with the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP). The respondents rated on a five-point Likert scale the level of influence of the challenges of, and the benefits derivable from data sharing. These were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques.

The results of the principal component analysis (PCA) presented a five-factor structure of the challenges to data sharing, including reporting context/framework/lack of expertise, cost considerations/clients’ influences, data interoperability, stakeholders conservative attitude and personal interest/data confidentiality. These have percentage variances 17.124%, 16.929%, 13.786%, 13.353% and 12.961%, respectively. For the benefits of data sharing, the constructs were categorized into four themes, namely, optimal project decisions/stakeholders’ confidence, benchmarking/ collaboration among firms, time and cost benefits and enhanced market intelligence. These have respective variances of 24.598%, 18.393%, 16.160% and 14.685%.

It is expected that this study will provide information to stakeholders towards implementation policies and practices that could eliminate the challenges to data sharing and assemblage, thereby enhancing the level of data sharing in the construction industry.

Given the increasing global and technological changes, it might be expected that there will be an increased appeal by construction stakeholders towards embracing data sharing and assemblage owing to the inherent benefits and value.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the soft skill gap of graduate employees, as well as the factors influencing the skill gaps of real estate graduates in the employment of real estate firms in Nigeria.

Primary data were employed for the study. Close-ended questionnaire served on real estate employers in the two major property markets of Nigeria: Lagos and Abuja. From a total of 343 questionnaires administered, 172 (59.7%) questionnaires were retrieved. While data from the graduate employees were obtained via a web-based survey sent out to a total of 558 graduates, 119 (21.33%) responses were received. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were employed in the data analysis.

The findings showed that employers had high expectations for soft skillsets relating to responsibility, administrative, listening and communication skills. These have respective mean scores of 6.38, 6.33, 6.31 and 6.31 on a seven point scale. However, the results revealed significant skill gaps with skills such as logical thinking, business negotiation, responsibility and marketing. Further, the analysis revealed that factors influencing the skill gap, in decreasing order of influence, are training/professional mentors/remuneration, personal preferences/industry characteristics and curriculum/faculties.

Real estate graduate soft skills are investigated to uncover areas of emphasis and skill gaps. These outcomes could serve as important feedbacks for stakeholders towards improving real estate teaching and curriculum. The findings could also assist real estate graduates to know employers areas of emphasis in relation to graduate employability skills.

Extant studies have reiterated and evaluated the soft skills gaps based on the perceptions of employers, faculties and institutions of higher learning. However, there is the need to investigate the perception of graduate employees, being the recipient and major stakeholders in the training process.

The global shift in the traditional skills required of real estate graduates has led to an increased demand for employees who have the required skills and competencies. The purpose of this study is to evaluate employment considerations of real estate firms and analyse employers’ skill expectations and the observed skills possessed by the graduate employees. This study also analysed the self-assessed soft skill levels of the graduate employees, thereby establishing the skill gap.

Data were sought from real estate employers in the two dominant real estate markets of Nigeria: Lagos and Abuja, and real estate graduate employees who have had a minimum of six months working experience in real estate firms. Data collected were analysed using statistical techniques such as frequency, percentages, mean, correlation, multivariate analysis of variance, paired-samples t-test and independent samples t-test.

The findings of this study revealed that employers’ soft skills expectations were high with skills such as responsibility, administrative, listening, communication, business negotiation and work ethics. Based on employers' observed skills, there were significant skill gaps with respect to soft skills such as responsibility, business negotiation, logical thinking, marketing and dispute resolution. An analysis of the core skills reveals employers' preference for technical competencies in valuation, agency, property management, marketing, report writing and landlord and tenant laws. However, graduate employees possessed significant skill gaps with regards to technical skills such as valuation, property investment analysis, feasibility and viability appraisal, market research methods and facility management.

An understanding of the skill gaps will provide useful feedback to professional bodies, regulatory boards, institutions of higher learning, faculty members and other stakeholders regarding deficient skill areas, especially for curriculum review, development and training in the real estate sector.

There is a paucity of information about employers' skill preferences and the skill gaps in the real estate sector.

Pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements have been widely adopted to increase housing delivery in the developed economy. Despite the increasing level of adoption in some developed countries, some are reverting to spot property buying because of factors militating the adoption of pre-letting and pre-sale financing. However, little has been done on the factors influencing the adoption of these trust-based financing arrangements in the developing economy where there are challenges of trust and market transparency.

Using a closed-ended questionnaire, 87 property development companies (PDCs), which constituted 63.5% of the 137 PDCs in Lagos metropolis, were sampled. Variables that influence adoption of pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements were presented to respondents for rating on a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not influential) to 5 (very highly influential). With the aid of SPSS software, acquired data were analysed using principal component analysis (PCA), mean rating and standard deviation.

The PCA finding revealed that factors influencing the adoption of pre-letting and pre-sale financing had 69.641% total variance. Top-rated components were fear of financial risk and firm’s reputation and poor government involvement and contractors' credibility, with 15.114% and 11.895% variances, respectively. The study findings suggested that the buyers' apprehension regarding the transfer of financial risk and the reputation of the firms significantly influence their decision to embrace both arrangements. As a result, the buyers' willingness to engage the financing arrangements is reduced, which consequently imparts adoption negatively. Furthermore, there is worrisome lack of government involvement, a crucial aspect for the success of such arrangements.

Pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements are found to be highly suitable for environments where there is trust. The findings enlighten the development firms on the need to uphold their reputation, as buyers attach great significance to the credibility and integrity of the companies they engage in business.

This paper is one of the few attempts that have sought to explore the factors influencing pre-letting and pre-sale financing arrangements in an emerging market like Nigeria.

Coworking spaces are recent developments in commercial property investment portfolio in Nigeria. Given the user-centered nature of coworking space practices, the purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing users’ preference for coworking, and the challenges associated with the use of coworking spaces in the emerging Nigeria property market.

This study used a quantitative research approach. This study sampled nine (9) traditional coworking spaces in Ibadan property market, from which 15 coworking space users were randomly selected in each of the coworking hubs. From a total of 135 respondents, only 45 (33.33%) questionnaires were retrieved and found suitable for analysis. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The results showed that economic and social motivators were significant drivers influencing coworkers’ decision to cowork. Personal factors were the least rated. Also, top-rated features/facilities that users prefer in the workstations include a neat environment and conveniences, uninterrupted power supply, serenity of the neighborhood and ease of signing up. The findings also showed that the challenges being faced by the users were predominantly about disturbance/noise from guests and/or other users, lack of privacy, poor internet connectivity, power failure and inability to personalize workspace (in decreasing order).

This study has implications for investors and users of coworking spaces in comparable developing markets. Also, the study will influence strategies and decisions of private firms/companies, as it relates to the work pattern of their employees.

This paper is relevant given the emergent behavioral changes, necessitated by the changing work practices. This compels the need for a reevaluation of the preferences and challenges associated with coworking spaces, especially as it relates to the users of flexible office spaces in emerging economies.