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| Caption: Sakina Hassanali during the launch of the HassConsult Coastal Land Price Index, which highlighted rising land prices across Kenya’s coastal towns driven by tourism, remote work and retirement migration, in Nairobi on May 12, 2026. |
Kenya’s coastal property market is experiencing a major transformation, with rising tourism, remote working and retirement migration driving unprecedented demand for land across key beach towns, according to a new report released by HassConsult.
The property consultancy on Tuesday launched the country’s first Coastal Land Price Index, a report tracking land price movements across 12 coastal towns from 2015 to 2025.
The report reveals that some of Kenya’s leading beach destinations recorded land price increases of more than 70 per cent between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the fourth quarter of 2025, highlighting the Coast’s emergence as a unique lifestyle and investment destination.
Speaking during the launch, Sakina Hassanali said the coastal land market had increasingly detached from broader national economic trends due to changing living and working patterns.
“Coastal land has delinked from general economic trends in Kenya on new dynamics during the 2020s,” Hassanali said.
She explained that the growth was being fuelled by remote workers, retirees, diaspora investors and tourists seeking second homes or permanent residence along the Coast.
“Across remote working, retirement relocation, and the long tail of international and domestic buyers who first discovered the Coast as tourists, it has developed its own distinct land dynamics,” she added.
According to the report, Diani Beach recorded the strongest land price growth, rising by 79.1 per cent over the five-year period.
Watamu Beach followed with a 70.4 per cent increase, while land prices in Lamu Island and Bamburi grew by 59.7 per cent and 56.6 per cent respectively.
The report attributes the sharp appreciation to what it terms a “beauty premium,” where natural scenery, beach width and lifestyle quality significantly influence land value.
Hassanali noted that investors were increasingly prioritising destinations with scenic beaches, ocean views and strong tourism appeal.
“The beauty premium is also the leading price factor within areas, with beachfront properties in Nyali selling for 19 per cent more than the average for the area,” she said.
The report shows that Nyali remains the Coast’s most expensive land market, with average land prices standing at Sh114 million per acre and beachfront property reaching Sh146.4 million per acre.
However, the consultancy noted that investor interest was gradually shifting toward less developed but highly attractive destinations such as Diani, Watamu and Lamu, where growth rates remained significantly stronger.
Other towns including Kilifi, Kikambala and Mombasa City posted average growth of around 40 per cent during the same period, supported by tourism expansion and resort development.
Kilifi Town recorded the highest annual increase in 2025 at 8.8 per cent, while Mombasa City registered the slowest annual growth at minus 1.03 per cent.
The report further highlights infrastructure challenges, land ownership disputes and water shortages as some of the factors slowing investment in parts of Kilifi and Kwale counties.
“Professionals moving to the Coast to work remotely, or relocating from all over the world to enjoy leisured retirements, simply will not buy when land titles are uncertain or water precarious,” Hassanali observed.
HassConsult said the new Coastal Land Price Index would provide investors, businesses and planners with reliable market insights as Kenya’s coastal property sector continues to evolve.
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