From Sh500,000 to Sh30m an Acre: Ole Kasasi's Rise to a Property Hotspot

Ole Kasasi is a neighbourhood of striking contrasts. The former pastoral settlement in Kajiado County is one of the fastest growing Nairobi satellite towns, yet even as urbanisation drastically changes its landscape, it has refused to entirely shed the customs that predate the construction boom. Along roads leading in sit small shops, hardware stores and rental houses, while further inside, newly built apartments and gated communities are emerging among older family homes and open stretches of land.

The transformation is most visible in land prices. Teketi Kimunyak, a long-time land seller, remembers when an acre could be bought for only a few hundred thousand shillings. "The land prices are increasing every day, because about 15 years ago you could find an acre for even Sh300,000 to Sh500,000," he says. Linda Mokeira, chief executive of real estate agency Jalisa Limited, says an acre in prime sections can now fetch as much as Sh30 million, while an acre in the interior costs between Sh16 million and Sh20 million. An eighth of an acre around Nazarene University down to the Maasai Lodge can cost Sh3.5 million to Sh5 million.

The sharp rise reflects a fundamental change in what buyers are looking for. Ms Mokeira points out that Ole Kasasi offers something increasingly scarce in Nairobi: room to build a standalone home, maintain a compound and still remain within reach of the city. A modern four-bedroom house in a gated community can sell for between Sh25 million and Sh35 million, while standalone homes can reach Sh50 million depending on the size of the compound and quality of construction. Rents have risen alongside property values, with one-bedroom units going for Sh10,000 to Sh25,000 a month and rents in gated communities reaching Sh75,000, with some landlords asking as much as Sh100,000.

Eager to capitalise on market demand that is also driven by Kenyans living in the diaspora looking for property investments, developers are increasingly putting up gated communities and multi-unit developments, particularly around African Nazarene University. Student demand has supported the growth of hostels, bedsitters and smaller apartments, creating a steady rental market alongside the more expensive family housing. "Here, when we talk about gated communities, most of those units will have at least four bedrooms," Ms Mokeira says.

The construction boom has brought shops, hardware stores and other businesses, but it has also exposed gaps in infrastructure and planning. "There is a challenge with infrastructure and the sewer system; there is also no proper zoning," Ms Mokeira says. "You cannot easily say that this is a high rise zone, this is a maisonette zone, etc." For homeowners, the absence of clearly defined development patterns can create uncertainty about what may eventually be built next door. As more land is subdivided and more houses rise, Ole Kasasi faces a question familiar to many of Nairobi's expanding suburbs: how much of the character that made the area desirable can survive the development that is making it valuable.