12/04/2026
I want to show you one miracle of real estate in Nigeria.
An estate in Asaba was launched in 2023 at the pre-sale price of ₦5.5 million.
Currently, a plot in the same estate is selling for ₦75 million.
Before you argue or get confused, I want to teach you something about real estate.
Take note if you can.
When a property is at its pre-sale price, it means that the property is selling below its market value.
Why will a company sell a portion of her estate below the market value?
Calm down. I will explain.
They do this to raise fast money to either complete the acquisition of the land, to enhance the land or speed up the perfecting of the land title.
So, if they have 100 plots, they can sell 20 plots at the pre-sale price to raise fast money.
This method has proven to be more effective than taking bank loans that come with a lot of bottlenecks. Commercial banks will be asking for an arm and a leg just to release money to developers.
If you were lucky to buy at the pre-sale price, property appreciation will be looking like magic to you and everyone you try to explain it to. And people who don’t know jack about how these things work will summarize it that the land is overpriced.
Once you enhance the land or perfect the title, it’s only natural for the property to appreciate.
Let me break down some of the ways developers enhance a land. I will add what perfecting a title entails.
— Creating access road to the estate (by the government) and inside the estate (by the developer)
— Building a streetlight inside the estate and bringing electricity into the estate
— Building a quality gatehouse, drainage system and fencing the entire estate
— Building an estate management office inside the estate
— Building a basket ball court inside the estate
— Surveying the land, especially if it was bought as an unregistered property
— Getting the C of O from the government
If the neighborhood is already habitable and the developer manages to get these things (plus other promised features on the way), it’s only natural for them to increase the price.
When you hear or read that a particular land went from ₦5.5 million to ₦75 million in 3 years, it’s not magic. There are indices to prove why it happened. Some of them are the things I listed above.
Lucky early investors will be smiling. Whether they want to keep it, sell at the current market value or on distress (let’s say half the price), they will still be extremely profitable.
Nothing favours you in real estate as an investor like getting the property early. What you paid ₦5.5 million for, your neighbor will pay ₦75 million.
Stop waiting to do it tomorrow. If you can afford it, do it now.
When you find a genuine property with a great future and in the right location, verify the company or individual selling it and you have the budget, go all in.
— Emenike Emmanuel C.
Coppied
