For the first time in five years, land price growth in Nairobi’s established suburbs has outpaced that of its surrounding satellite towns, marking a significant market shift driven by tough economic conditions and waning middle-class demand.
According to the HassConsult Land Price Index for the second quarter of 2025, land prices in Nairobi’s suburbs grew by 1.6 percent, while satellite towns saw a notable slowdown, with prices appreciating by just 1.25 percent. This is a sharp drop for the satellite towns, which recorded a 2.4 percent growth in the previous quarter.
The report attributes the trend reversal to the resilience of the suburban market and a cooling-off period for satellite towns after years of rapid expansion.
“The Nairobi suburbs have shown consistency in price movement, allowing them to overtake satellite towns in quarterly price growth,” said Sakina Hassanali, Co-CEO at HassConsult. “Demand for standalone house units also bodes well for land prices in low-density estates, complementing the city’s apartment development hotspots.”
In contrast, the previously high demand for land in outlying areas like Kiserian, Kitengela, Ngong, and Thika is slowing as economic pressures affect the purchasing power of their target market. Developers are also growing cautious of a potential oversupply of apartments in these areas.
“Developers are keeping an eye on potential oversupply of apartments in these satellite areas, which has started to manifest in stagnant rental prices and falling sales prices for units in a majority of the towns,” Ms. Hassanali added.
Within the city, Spring Valley and Parklands were the top-performing suburbs, with quarterly price gains of 2.3 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. Annually, Spring Valley also led the pack with an impressive 11.5 percent increase in land value.
Despite the quarterly slowdown, satellite towns still show strong annual growth at 8.86 percent, led by Juja, which recorded the highest annual price increase of any area at 15.49 percent. However, some areas showed signs of strain, with Kiambu town recording a slight price drop of 0.39 percent over the quarter, and Kitisuru being the only suburb with a negative annual change at -0.28 percent.