High-end suburbs led by Muthaiga showed resilience between July and September this year despite the continued challenges in the market, the HassConsult House Price Index for the third quarter of 2020 shows.
Data shared by the real estate company reveals that high-end suburbs, which are predominantly characterized by detached houses, affirmed the trend led by Muthaiga which was the best performing suburb over the quarter with property prices posting a 1.4 percent increase.
Loresho and Runda, other high-end suburbs, also displayed resilience with mild increases of 0.9 and 0.7 percent
increases, respectively.
“Most buyers of high-end houses are looking for properties that offer consistent or stable returns regardless of the
state of the overall property market. Additionally, buyers who want that dream home in some of the exclusive
neighborhoods are prepared to pay a premium,” said Ms. Sakina Hassanali, Head of Development Consulting and
Research at HassConsult.
Overall prices remained static with a 0.3 percent increase over the quarter and 2.27 percent on an annual basis.
Loresho was the best performing suburb on an annual basis with house prices increasing by 7 percent.
In the satellite towns, Thika was the best performer with apartment prices increasing by 1.8 percent.
On the tail end was Riverside which saw apartments in the suburb post a 2 per cent quarterly drop and an 8.4 percent annual drop.
House correction in Juja saw prices in the suburb drops by 4 and 8.8 per cent over the quarter and on an annual basis.
On the rental front, HassConsult notes that rents marginally improved over the quarter driven by Muthaiga and Ruiru housing market which posted 2.9 percent and 3.7 percent respective increases.
Overall rents increased by 2.5 per cent over the quarter 4.9 percent on an annual basis.
“A few suburbs have backed the trend of falling rents which still continue as tenants are negotiating for discounts
amid the tough economic environment,” said Ms. Hassanali.
Apartments in Langata recorded the highest asking rents over the quarter at 3.5 percent while Kilimani recorded the lowest drop with apartment rents marginally reducing by 3.6 percent.
