Kenya House Prices Rise 2.2% in a Year as Standalone Homes Outpace ApartmentsKenya House Prices Rise 2.2% in a Year as Standalone Homes Outpace Apartments

The KNBS Residential Property Price Index reached 120.29 in the second quarter, up from 117.73 in the same quarter of 2025. For buyers, landlords and developers, the split between house types matters more than the headline, because it shows where prices are holding up.

What the index shows

The index also rose 1.6% from the first quarter of 2026, so prices continued to climb through the first half of the year. The annual gain of 2.2% is modest, and the bureau's figures describe an average across the country rather than the cost of any single home.

Standalone houses led the increase. Apartment prices were almost unchanged from a year earlier, which means buyers of apartments paid close to what they would have paid in mid-2025.

What it means for buyers and developers

The gap points to uneven demand. Anyone buying a standalone home faces steadier price growth, while apartment buyers have seen little change. Developers selling apartments will be watching whether flat prices persist in the next release.

As Mwenendo earlier reported, fuel and crude oil costs remain a pressure on household budgets, and higher living costs can reduce how much families can commit to home purchases. A 2.2% annual rise is also modest when set against everyday price pressures, so in real terms the gain for property owners may be small.

Reading the figure with care

An index tracks price change for a fixed set of properties. It does not show county or price-band detail in the summary available at the time of writing, so readers should treat the national figure as a guide, not a forecast for their own neighbourhood.

Mwenendo has also covered how crude strength feeds into transport and construction costs, which can influence what developers charge. The next quarterly KNBS release will show whether the second-quarter gain holds and whether apartments move off their flat trend.