A tough economy is reducing the flow of buyers who are keen on building their own houses in satellite towns such as Kitengela, Athi River and Kiserian, a new industry report by property market tracker Hass Consult shows.

Kitengela, Athi River and Kiserian have for years remained favourable destination for families seeking to set up homes around Nairobi where one can easily commute from house to office and save on rent costs and grow wealth.

Statistics from Hass Consult show that if an investor committed KES1 million at the end of 2007 in land in Nairobi's satellite, that investment would be worth KES13.23 million today compared with KES7.40 million in value if invested in land in Nairobi suburbs.

According to Hass Consult, an acre of land was going for KES32.3 million on average in these satellite towns between June and September 2025, reflecting a marginal drop of just 0.84 percent during the quarter and 6.6 percent reduction in the 12 months to September.

During the quarter under focus, an acre of land in 18 suburbs across Nairobi was changing hands at about KES224 million.

“Many of these satellite areas, such as Kiserian, Kitengela, and Athi River, have been prime locations for middle class buyers to develop their own family homes in stages and as incomes allowed,” said Sakina Hassanali, Co-CEO, Hass Consult in a statement accompanying the release of Q3 property survey.

She added: “Only areas with strong developer demand are now reporting strong land price growth,” said Sakina Hassanali.

For instance, Nairobi's Spring Valley, which is adjacent to the city's high-end business hub Westlands, leads in property development.

Survey notes that an increasing number of developers targeting Spring Valley are opting for multi-use properties to meet the tastes and preferences of customers in the "rapidly changing character of the area, from exclusively top-of-the-market homes and gardens to a mixed-use area, with commercial properties and apartments."

"This delivered a further increase in land prices in the suburb of 3.6 percent from June to September and 13.3 percent over the year," the report notes in part.

At the same time, Nairobi's suburbs such as Muthaiga which are currently grappling with limited appeal for commercial and multi-occupation due to the scarcity of public transport routes and planning restrictions, suffered, with land prices shedding off 0.2 percent in value between June and September.

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