Nairobi’s satelite towns record increase in price of land

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Nairobi’s satelite towns of Ruiru, Juja and Limuru have experienced the fastest growth in prices of land among Nairobi satellite towns in the past one year as ongoing and proposed infrastructure developments attract to potential land buyers and housing developers.

According to the HassConsult property index for the third quarter of 2016, the price of an acre of land at one of Nairobi’s satelite towns of Juja has recorded a 43.1 per cent increase over the last one year to Sh10 million averagely, while Ruiru recorded a 42.9 per cent increase to Sh21.3 million and Limuru at 34.9 per cent to Sh19.4 million.

Ruiru and Juja have appreciated in recent years due to ease of access following the expansion of Thika Highway, together with the proposed commuter rail, while land price in Limuru are being driven up by the ongoing construction of the Western Bypass.

HassConsult says that prices of land for the satellite town of Nairobi have generally gone up at a faster rate of 21.4 per cent in comparison to the suburbs, where land prices have raised by 5.67 per cent in the past year.

“This is to be expected when you have the big infrastructure spend by the government in these areas. The people who are buying are land speculators and developers who want to use the new accessibility to provide property that is within reach of more people.”

Other towns around that have appreciated as a result of infrastructure development driven include Ruaka, which on the Northern Bypass, at a growth rate of 32 per cent in price to Sh74.7 million an acre, and Thika town at 25.8 per cent to Sh18.1 million shillings an acre.

Satellite towns along roads that are common with traffic congestion are experiencing slower growth in land price.

The survey reveals that the price of an acre in Mlolongo has decreased by 16.5 per cent over the last year to Sh23.3 million and Athi River’s has increased by a marginal 0.3 per cent to Sh11.2 million.

Some towns have, however, outperformed the sector average growth in land price, especially those located near the Southern Bypass and Outer Ring Road, whose expansion is ongoing.

Consequently, the price of an acre in Donholm has raised by 34 per cent in the past 12 months to Sh60.8 million and that of an acre in Lang’ata is up by 14 per cent to Sh54.8 million.

On the rental and house sales side, the growth has been modest across all areas of the city compared to land purchase prices.