Kiambu Road developer puts up Sh4.2m houses

Property developer Dinara has broken ground for a Sh160 million apartment block in the Thindigua area of Kiambu County.

Dinara has kicked off construction of Grand Ville Apartments, which will consist of 40 two-bedroom apartments at Sh4.2 million each.

The developers said they have settled on the site due to its closeness to the city, a good road network and availability of social amenities.

“We chose the area because of its proximity to town and it is close to Runda, Ridgeways Mall and the northern bypass,” said Dinara business development manager Caroline Loontubu.

Construction is expected to take 18 months. Rapid urbanisation and the preference for Nairobi’s satellite towns has seen developers move to towns in Kiambu, Kajiado and Machakos counties.

Thindigua Heights and Kingspride Properties are the other developers putting up apartments in the area.

“The Thindigua is a fast rising community whose major interest is from UN staff and middle income professionals seeking to enjoy convenience brought about by faster connectivity through the recently completed Northern bypass,” says Kingspride properties which is developing an apartment block in the same area. Kitengela, Kikuyu and Ruiru are the other towns that are urbanising fast helped by ongoing infrastructure developments.

Data from Hass Consult says roads, sewer lines and other infrastructure have attracted investors, pushing land prices in satellite towns by 6.2 times over the last seven years.

“The attractive returns in land in these satellite towns has become a key driver of demand which has now become the new revenue stream for thousands of investment groups, co-operative societies, saccos, learning institutions and individual investors,” said Hass Consult head of research and marketing Sakina Hassanali.

The residential real-estate sector is expected to grow but at a slow rate due to uncertainty in the market and the high interest rates.