A significant aspect of real estate in Nigeris is used as a store of value as opposed to a space people can live in. https://twitter.com/TamaraPosibi/status/1386631344705478660

So it makes sense to hike the property value to unrealistic heights and have that as the base price.

Whoever has cash - usually laundered money - can then 'clean it up' by buying those properties.

The person buys when EFCC is on his neck, and sell when they give him space.

Such a person usually won't want to rent out the buildings to retain his anonymity and might not even sell until much later.

That's why despite the increasing number of empty apartments in areas like Ikoyi, more are coming up.

I wrote about it here https://medium.com/@ezekielbassey/the-financialization-of-housing-fc55759ec31d