HassConsult has unveiled land price trends for the first quarter of 2017, presenting the Nairobi suburbs and satellite towns that were big winners of the ongoing infrastructure projects as investors and speculators warm up to expectations of increased connectivity and accessibility.
Even as asking land prices within satellite towns rose by an average of 3.4 per cent in the quarter, the four satellite towns posting the highest land price gains were in the vicinity of infrastructure projects that are either on-going or set for commissioning.
“Tigoni, which had witnessed a period of stalled land pricing over two years saw the highest increases in land prices over the first quarter of 2017 – we expect in relation to the recent upgrade of the Ruaka-Banana-Limuru Road that was for so long an access bottleneck to the suburb. Ruiru and Juja posted similar increases. Nearby infrastructure upgrades make the area ripe for land speculation.’ said Ms. Sakina Hassanali, Head of Development Consulting and Research at HassConsult.
Land in Nairobi’s suburbs posted similar land price trends. With the exception of Muthaiga, the top performing suburbs were also the beneficiaries of ongoing or completed road projects.
Over the first quarter of 2017, Donholm saw land prices increase by 3.6 per cent, a result of the expansions of Outer Ring Road while Langata and Karen witnessed land price escalations of 3.1 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively in the quarter, perpetuating a land price inflation trend attributable to the completion of the Southern bypass.
Remarkably, suburbs that witnessed high land price inflation on the back of infrastructure projects did not witness a correlating increase in property prices. Donholm and Langata were both suburbs that witnessed house price falls even as their land prices soared.
