Mombasa remains the county with the second highest land prices in the country, after Nairobi, averaging Ksh. 49.8 after at the end of 2017. The coastal county last year saw an increase in land prices of 9.87 per cent, raising the average price per acre to Ksh. 49.8m compared to Ksh. 32.4m recorded at the end of 2012.
On average, land prices in the county have increased just 53.55% since 2012 according to Hass Consult’s county land price index. The performance was not very impressive when compared to the top performers like Kiambu County where land prices increased 98.73% over the same period.
The index analysed the performance of 10 counties across the country.
Growth in land prices in the county, has been attributed to an increase in economic activity in the tourism and commercial sectors and infrastructural development in the coastal city of Mombasa. Over the past five years, the county has recorded an average yearly increase in land prices of 8.96 percent, representing the third lowest average rate of growth across the ten counties surveyed over the same period.
Analysis over the five-year period revealed that the county had experienced a stagnation in land prices in the two years prior to 2015 due to frequent terrorist attacks after which land markets took off steadily following security actions taken by the government.
Major infrastructural developments such as the Standard Gauge Railway, the Mombasa-Miritini road, expansion of the Airport and Port Reitz roads, have made land in the county more attractive to investors.
Generally, the land markets have been driven by infrastructural projects although increasing interest in high-density development has also pushed land prices up in certain locations. Shanzu and Nyali areas have remained the hottest areas in Mombasa’s property markets with land prices per acre in being the highest Nyali at Ksh. 95.7m, up from Ksh. 66.5m in 2012.
Investors have now shifted their attention to promising new locations like Utange which registered the highest price increase in the county, of 13.12 percent in 2017 alone. A number of investors have identified Utange for potential projects, including an international school and a 100 acre mixed use development.
An acre of land in the area cost for Ksh. 20m as of the fourth quarter of 2017 according to the report. The Bamburi area has also seen significant improvement, recording an increase of 12.91 per cent in the previous year.
With election-caused market volatility now behind, the county’s property market is expected to rebound and higher prices are likely by the end of the year.
