An index measuring Nairobi’s prime house prices suffered its worst decline in the index history and there is no sign of a bottom for the market.
The Knight Frank Prime Global Cities Index (PGCI) shows that prices of prime residential houses in the city fell by 6.5% in the 12 months to March 2019. The trend has been driven by continued oversupply with relatively few buyers of the high-end residential market.
According to the index which tracks 45 cities across the world, Nairobi is among the worst performing at -6.5% with Canada’s Vancouver being the worst performer where prime residential prices fell by 14.5%, followed by a 9.9% drop in Istanbul, Turkey and Auckland Australasia at -7.5%.
The price decline saw Nairobi drop in ranking to 42nd out of the 45 locations tracked by the global index. Cape Town, the only other African city in the PGCI, is ranked 19th with a 2.1% increase in the 12-month period.
The report adds to the most recent Kenya Bankers Association-Housing Price Index which shows that growth in house prices suffered the largest decline since 2013 primarily due to drop in access to credit in the building and construction industry.