Luxury property's final frontier

In the Lagos edition of Monopoly, a board game, the priciest neighbourhood up for grabs in Nigeria's commercial capital is Banana Island.

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The sand-filled annex in Ikoyi, a rich part of town, was created just two decades ago. It has since become some of Nigeria's hottest property. To enter the enclave, non-residents need special security codes that change every hour. There are curfews for domestic staff and rules on loitering.

Banana Island was supposed to have more reliable power than the rest of Lagos, too, though in practice it has not quite worked out that way. No matter. These days one square metre of land goes for almost $2,000, about the same price as in Camps Bay, a fancy suburb of Cape Town in South Africa. Despite a cost-of-living crisis, plots are selling fast.

The skylines of west Africa's coastal cities are being reshaped by a surge in luxury property development. The changes offer an insight into how wealthy Africans are spending their money. They also show that the property sector is beginning to play a more important role in African economies, becoming a source of much-needed dollars.