A family of complex nilmanifolds with infinitely many real homotopy types

We find a one-parameter family of non-isomorphic nilpotent Lie algebras ${\mathfrak{g}}_a$, with $a\in [0,\mathrm{\infty })$, of real dimension eight with (strongly non-nilpotent) complex structures. By restricting $a$ to take rational values, we arrive at the existence of infinitely many real homotopy types of $8$-dimensional nilmanifolds admitting a complex structure. Moreover, balanced Hermitian metrics and generalized Gauduchon metrics on such nilmanifolds are constructed.