Before you commit
The costs Kenyan property actually carries.
A working sketch of stamp duty, capital gains tax, commission and a loan. It is not advice. Your advocate, your valuer and KRA have the last word.
Legal fees are sketched at 1.5% with a floor, then 16% VAT. The Advocates Remuneration Order is a scale, not this flat rate. Valuation is sketched at 0.5%.
- Stamp duty
- Ksh 400,000
- Legal fees
- Ksh 150,000
- VAT on legal fees
- Ksh 24,000
- Valuation
- Ksh 50,000
- Search and registration
- Ksh 5,000
- Indicative total, besides the price
- Ksh 629,000
How a purchase moves
- 01
Offer, in writing
Price, what is included, and how long the seller has to answer. A WhatsApp voice note is not an offer.
- 02
Search
An official search on Ardhisasa or at the registry, plus a look at rates, rent and any charge, caveat or court matter.
- 03
Advocates
Each side should have their own. The agent does not convey the land. Spousal consent, company sellers and leases all need a lawyer’s eye.
- 04
Valuation and duty
Stamp duty is paid on the market value, which may not be your price. Urban residential is widely published at 4%, rural at 2%, commercial at 6%.
- 05
Registration
Duty, consents and registration through the registry. You do not have the property because you paid a deposit to an agent.
What we will not skip
- Identity. Estate agents in Kenya have duties around the source of funds. Expect to be asked who you are before a serious instruction proceeds.
- A practising agent. The Estate Agents Act, Cap 533, makes unregistered practice an offence. Ask to see the certificate that covers your instruction. The Board is the Estate Agents Registration Board.
- Commission. On a sale the seller usually pays. A published scale runs 10% on the first KSh 100,000, 6% on the next KSh 900,000 and 3% above KSh 1 million — about KSh 184,000 on a KSh 5 million sale. The open market often negotiates a flatter 1.25–5%, plus VAT if it applies. Agree it in writing.
- Letting. A landlord typically pays. A common finding fee is in the region of one month’s rent or about 7.5–10% of the year’s rent. A tenant should not quietly be paying both sides.
Read the Act on Kenya Law. Searches sit on Ardhisasa. Tax payments sit with KRA.
Q3 2026 · asking prices
What the published medians actually said.
Medians from published listing data for 1 July to 30 September 2026. These are asks, not prices achieved. An average in this market is a distraction.
KSh 18M
National median asking price, across 5,912 sale listings.
KSh 120k
National median asking rent. Nairobi’s median rent was KSh 130,000.
65 days
Median time to let, from completed lets over the prior twelve months. Selling times were not stable enough to quote here.
Counties that cleared the bar
Kiambu outranked Nairobi on the sale median. Nairobi still led rent. Kajiado was the most affordable of the six counties that cleared the reporting bar.
| County | Median sale ask | Median rent |
|---|---|---|
| Kiambu | KSh 22M | KSh 75k |
| Nairobi | KSh 20.5M | KSh 130k |
| Mombasa | KSh 16M | — |
| Kilifi | KSh 15M | — |
| Machakos | KSh 10M | KSh 90k |
| Kajiado | KSh 8.5M | — |
Gross yields on asking prices
Highest published gross yields on asking prices. A 13% figure becomes something else after service charge, voids, repairs and management.
- Westlands apts13.5%
- Nairobi 1-bed12.4%
- Kilimani apts10.4%
- Nairobi 2-bed10.0%
- Nairobi 3-bed7.9%
- Kileleshwa apts7.6%
If you are buying to let
Start in Westlands and Kilimani only after you have the service charge and a realistic void. The yield tables do not include either.
If you are buying to live
Karen, Lavington and Runda will not win a yield table. They are priced on land and on who your neighbour is. That is a different decision.
If you are abroad
Do not buy from a rendered photograph and a WhatsApp broadcast. Ask for the search, the rates and a managed handover. That is what our property management service is for.