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Prime Market in Nairobi, Kenya, On the Upswing in 2018

The capital city logged moderate price gains in 2017, but low transaction volume

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Nairobi, Kenya

Thomas Imo/Getty Images
Nairobi, Kenya
Thomas Imo/Getty Images

The prime market in Kenya’s capital city of Nairobi is set to improve in the first half of 2018 as the market recovers from years of fluctuating prices and as the current wave of political uncertainty draws to a close, according to a report Thursday from Knight Frank.

Following a period between 2010 and 2012 when annual price growth exceeded 30%, Nairobi’s prime residential market has witnessed a price correction in recent years, an indicator of a maturing market as vendors adjust their price expectations, the report said.

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Prime residential prices logged moderate price growth in 2017, increasing by 0.9% over the first nine months of the year compared to a 1% decrease over the same period in 2016. Political turmoil, though, led to fewer transactions last year as potential sellers and buyers held off until after the presidential election.

The August election—which brought about protests and violence—was nullified and a secondpresidential election was held in October.

However, despite the slowdown in activity, Knight Frank predicts transactions will increase in 2018 as the market stabilizes, while Nairobi and the coastal city of Mombasa will continue to attract interest from both local and international buyers.

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"Kenya has a long-standing reputation as a destination for holiday home ownership, and with the political turbulence behind us, we are forecasting an increase in such investments in line with a strong economic recovery in 2018," said Ben Woodhams, managing director at Knight Frank Kenya in the report.

Overseas interest in Kenyan vacation homes comes mainly from British buyers followed by Italians, the report said, who drawn to the coast around Malindi, Watamu and Lamu, as well as the countryside in Nanyuki close to Mount Kenya and within private game conservancies, according to the report.