Historic low for land deals in Kenya

Sakina Hassanali,Head of Development Consulting & Research Hass Consult,

Four years ago, a budding entrepreneur used part of his savings to buy two parcels of land in Isinya, Kajiado County. Last year, the Nairobi-based businessman had hoped to sell one of the parcels, use the cash to build a three-bedroom family house and reinvest any balance in his logistics business.

Today, he is a disillusioned man. Due to last year’s prolonged political period, he found it difficult to sell his land despite holding on to it for some time in the hope of a substantial price appreciation. “Those who wanted to buy gave me offers that were less than market prices. They all cited the political climate as the reason they did not want to invest more than what they were offering,” he says.