The Hass Land Price Index for Q4 2020 was published on Thursday, February 4, offering various interesting insights.
Notably, land in Kiambu county witnessed extensive price corrections in 2020. Kiambu town, Ruiru and Limuru recorded the biggest annual drops in land prices at 11.4 per cent, 6 per cent and 3 per cent respectively.
Juja, Ruaka and Thika also registered annual price corrections. Tigoni was the only suburb in Kiambu County to register a land price increase (1.9%), a situation attributed to enforcement of land use laws in the area and recent infrastructure improvements.
Kiambu town recorded the lowest quarterly increase in land prices, at -2.86% over the last quarter of 2020. It was also responsible for the lowest annual increase in land price, at -11.4%.
The drop came after years of speculative buying driven by infrastructure upgrades, particularly the Thika Super Highway.
Overall, six out of seven towns in Kiambu County registered decreases in asking prices.
According to HassConsult, land prices in Kiambu had hit their peak as economic activity declined due to Covid-19.
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”Kiambu County has in the last decade seen the most intense development in infrastructure, which put the county into a bracket of investment that was in a league of its own – attracting institutional investors such as insurance companies, SACCOs and real estate developers who bought large parcels of land for subdivision and further speculation.
“However, land prices in the county are moving towards a maximum of what the development market can bear, until we see a hike economic activity and therefore some space for property prices to rise further,” explained Sakina Hassanali, Head of
Development Consulting and Research at HassConsult.
In Nairobi, land prices in the suburbs recorded a static 0.002 per cent increase between October and December 2020, which was a reversal of 11 consecutive months of price
drops.
”Until we see a revival of the apartment market which at the end of the day is a function of economic growth, land prices in the inner city will continue to remain stagnant,” noted Hassanali.
Muthaiga was the Nairobi suburb which recorded the highest annual increase in land price, at 3.91%.
Parklands recorded the lowest annual increase in land price, at -7.35%.
Ngong’ town was the Nairobi satellite town with the highest annual increase in land price, at 9.86%.
