Inflation and Quality Attributes in Construction Projects in Cities: An Empirical Analysis of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria

In view of the current inflationary effects in the country, this study examines the nexus between inflation on the quality attributes in construction projects in FCT, Abuja with a view to enhancing real estate construction and mitigating the effects of inflation on construction in Nigeria. The research examines the rate of inflation in Nigerian between 2019 and 2024; the nature of project qualities within the selected period and the extent of the effect of inflation on project quality in FCT, Abuja. An exploratory research design was adopted for this study using both primary and secondary sources of data. Two sets of questionnaires were administered (Type A and Type B) to the target population, one to the property owners, while the other was administered to Real Estate Developers in FCT Abuja. Using stratified sampling techniques, structured questionnaires was administered to the respondents, while 95 (63.33) and 210 (52.50) were retrieved from the target population using descriptive statistics and Weighted Mean Score. Key findings indicate that the rate of inflation increased from 11.40% in 2019 to 26.31 in 2024. These consequently affected the prices of building materials which also witnessed significant increments within the periods. Eight (8) major characteristics of quality namely functionality, performance, reliability, relevance, timeliness, suitability, completeness and consistency including their sub-divisions were considered and the results showed that were significant differences in the opinion of the respondents based on the nature of project qualities within the selected period with a significant level of lesser than 0.05(p? .05). The results of the Pearson Correlation Coefficient showed there are positive and negative statistical and non-statistical relationships between inflation and project quality attributes in Abuja. The research concludes that policy formulations, intervention strategies such as the use of local building materials, appropriate budgeting inflation reduction measures amongst other are essential in a bid to mitigating the effects of inflation and enhancing real estate development/in the country. Received: 19 July 2025 / Accepted: 27 August 2025 / Published: 12 September 2025