High-end suburbs led by Muthaiga showed resilience despite the continued challenges in the property markets market.

The latest data by Hass Property price indices for the third quarter of 2020 reveals that high-end suburbs, which are predominantly characterized by detached houses, bucked the trend led by Muthaiga which was the best performing suburb over the quarter with property prices posting a 1.4 per cent increase.

Loresho and Runda, other high-end suburbs, also displayed resilience with mild increases of 0.9 and 0.7 per cent increases, respectively.

“Most buyers of high-end houses are looking for properties that offer consistent or stable returns regardless of the state of the overall property market. Additionally, buyers who want that dream home in some of the exclusive neighbourhoods are prepared to pay a premium,” said Ms. Sakina Hassanali, Head of Development Consulting and Research at HassConsult.

Overall prices remained static with a 0.3 per cent increase over the quarter and 2.27 per cent on an annual basis.

Loresho was the best performing suburb on an annual basis with house prices increasing by 7 per cent.

In the satellite towns, Thika was the best performer with apartment prices increasing by 1.8 per cent. On the tail end was Riverside which saw apartments in the suburb post a 2 per cent quarterly drop and an 8.4 per cent drop in house prices year-to-date.

House correction in Juja saw prices in the suburb drop by 4 and 8.8 per cent over the quarter and on an annual basis.

On the rental front, HassConsult said that rents marginally improved over the quarter driven by Muthaiga and Ruiru housing markets which posted 2.9 per cent and 3.7 per cent respective increases.

Overall rents increased by 2.5 per cent over the quarter 4.9 per cent on an annual basis.

“A few suburbs have backed the trend of falling rents which still continue as tenants are negotiating for discounts amid the tough economic environment,” said Ms. Hassanali.

Apartments in Langata recorded the highest asking rents over the quarter at 3.5 per cent while Kilimani recorded the lowest drop with apartment rents marginally reducing by 3.6 per cent.