Brief Overview of Nanyuki

Laikipia County is one of the 47 counties found in Kenya. The county boarders two agricultural giants that is Nyeri and Meru County making it a suitable agricultural market centre. Other counties surrounding and bordering Laikipia are Nakuru County, Baringo County and Isiolo County.

According to the Laikipia County Integrated plan, the county has four urban areas positions, that is, Rumuruti, Nyahururu, Kinamba and Nanyuki which will be our main focus.

The main economic activities in the whole county consist mainly of tourism and agriculture, grain crops being the highly sort after, ranching and greenhouse horticulture. The climate is cool and temperate over the year due to its proximity to the equator.

Land within Nairobi and other major towns is becoming increasingly scarce and to make matters even harder the prices are increasing as the days go by. Many investors in the real estate sector, have opted to invest in county levels, especially the places that are still on the verge of development. Based on affordability and the development aspect, Laikipia County, Nanyuki to be more specific fits the above qualification.

Laikipia County Real Estate Performance

In this part of the article we are going to focus the performance of the county focusing on:

1. Land Prices

• Land prices in Laikipia are highly dependent on the proximity to the main roads and proximity to major developed urban centres. Considering that most of the towns are not some much or equally developed, the land prices are relatively low to the point where a 1 acre piece of land in Kinamba goes for ksh350,000.
• Rumuruti which has now been official made the capital of Limuru also has fairly low priced land where a 1 acre goes for ksh350000. Land bought in Rumuruti is mostly used for agricultural purposes with tomato and vegetable production being the products from this area.
• Nyahururu is an agricultural powerhouse in Laikipia county with maize and potatoes farming being key. In comparison with other towns in Laikipia, Nyahururu has good infrastructure with major financial and educational institutions present. Land in Nyahururu town are quite expensive where buyers can pay atleast two million for a plot within the town but as you move further from the town the prices gradually reduce and a 50×100 plot can go for as little as ksh 100,000. Most investors going for land in Nyahururu opt to involve in agriculture especially livestock farming, horticulture and milk processing due to climatic support.
• Nanyuki is a different case from all these other towns as it is the biggest town in Laikipia County. To begin with, Nanyuki served as the capital of Laikipia even though it is not centrally located at in Laikipia County and additionally it is fairly developed compared to the other towns.
• Land in Nanyuki has variety of uses unlike the other towns where 70% of the available land is used for ranching, tourism and wildlife conservation.
• Land prices in Nanyuki are relatively high compared to the other towns considering the fact that it fairly developed, the presences of conservancies and many other factors that will for sure lead to appreciation of land value in the town.
• As expected, land closer to Nanyuki town are higher than those further from the town due to the level of development. Most investors have sorted to buy undeveloped land further from the town considering the fact that development in Nanyuki is spreading at a fast rate. Additionally, most of the conservancies and other tourist sites are found far from the town and they give a scenic view of the county.
• For such land is Nanyuki investors will have to pay not less than ksh380000 for a 50×100 plot but fortunately Nyota Njema has given the investors the chance to own such plots at an affordable cash price of just ksh299,000.

1. 2.Returns On Investment (R.O.I)

Most of the investors in Nanyuki are going for the properties based on speculative views. This means that they are buying the plots considering the fact that the properties will appreciate in value in days to come which is the case.

When researching on the Real Estate performance of Nanyuki, the following aspects are considered, residential, commercial (retail and offices), hospitality(holiday homes) and the land sectors( speculative aspect) being the major consideration.

• Significant residential areas are distributed within the Nanyuki CBD, Maiyan and near the airstrip. This residential areas mainly contain personally built and occupied stand-alone houses, this is driven by the fact that the market lacks institutional developers. The residential market in this location is mainly around Nanyuki town and is mainly rental, as most of the investors target foreigners/tourist. Based on a Cyton Research done on 2019, the Nanyuki residential market recorded an average rental yield of 4.7% and yearly 29.0% uptake rate (the rate at which homes are sold during a set time).  Considering that the average rental yield for any given place is 3-5%, Nanyuki on this particular sector is performing well considering its level of development

The Sarova Maiyan Hotel In Nanyuki, Laikipia County.

• The commercial sector of Nanyuki is still on the verge of development, with the retail sector serving the town with two malls (Cedar mall and Nanyuki Mall). The retail sector has more returns 8.3% compared to the commercial, that is, office spaces which has 7% return and is advised upon considering there is less competition.
•   The land sector (speculative aspect) has the best performance in Nanyuki by far. There is an increase in demand of land In Nanyuki and with increase in demand comes an increase in price. In 2019 Nanyuki had an average annual sale of up to 46% attributed to the growing demand and development aspect the town will have in the coming days
• It is key to note that Nanyuki is a renowned tourist destination, this has led to demand for hospitality services and facilities, thus the development of holiday homes.

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