Towards Isiolo, however, land is still available and cheaper for development. Big government projects including a resort city and an international airport are meant to prop the area as the ultimate real estate destination. The planned Isiolo Resort City is seeing a spike in land prices, as is the advanced construction of the Isiolo Airport.

In 2011, Isiolo saw land prices surge in anticipation of the proposed government projects under the country’s development blueprint, Vision 2030. Back then, a local daily said speculation had made an acre of land in Isiolo jump from Sh15,000 to Sh150,000, this is even higher today. Today, land close to the town has gone even higher with areas like Kulamawe, County Council, Kambi ya Juu,  Kiwanja ya Ndege, Bulla Pesa and around the Isiolo Hospital and attracting more residential developments.

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A 50 by 100 feet plot in such areas is going for at least Sh500,000. Construction of 501-kilometre Isiolo-Moyale highway, which links Kenya to Ethiopia is ongoing with a railway line linking the area to the coast included in the mega projects.

Naivasha

The Rift Valley region has been attracting high end developers. Naivasha’s scenic landscape, wildlife parks and a lake popular with holidaymakers have put the once dusty town on the global property radar. Postcard developments here include Longonot Gate, Great Rift Valley, Osotua Villas, and Aberdare Hills Golf Resort, which was named as the Best Golf Development in Africa at the 2015 International Property Awards.

On the other hand, OLX, the online advertising portal lists more than 300 properties within the greater Naivasha area with prices ranging between Sh95,000 and Sh5 million an acre. However, the most popular locations are those around Lake Naivasha.

They also command higher prices than the outskirts. Lamudi, a Global property portal focusing on emerging markets states that despite the availability of land within Naivasha and its environs, construction of residential homes is yet to take shape.

“The availability of land in Naivasha is beyond the development rate of the town. This makes the area a real estate hotspot,” states Lamudi. Investors in middle to lower segments of the market should take the cue and come up with products that resonate with Kenya’s ballooning middle class.

Mombasa

Back to the cities, it is not only Nairobi that you should be looking at. Despite lying on an island, Mombasa has stamped her authority as a leader in real estate development along the coast. Apart from the well known, high-end products, the area has a growing appetite for middle and low end developments.

For example, Nyali View Park, a cluster of 144 units comprising of two and three bedroom apartments is located near City Mall, Nyali and selling between Sh3 million and Sh10 million in what could be considered a high end location.

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“The homes are popular with first time home owners and those interested to flip them over for capital gain. The uptake of such low end development is a trend gaining popularity in Mombasa,” says Mwenda Thuranira, CEO of Mombasa-based MySpace Properties.

Kisumu

The lakeside city too has seen unprecedented development within the last five years. Like Nairobi, the trend in Kisumu is to move away from the city’s hub to the outskirts. Formerly desolate areas such as Awasi and Kibos have seen developers erecting residential units for owner occupation or rental.

And while Milimani was the preferred address a few years ago, the picturesque Riat Hills has lately seen investments in billions of shillings.

In 2014, a high profile real estate developer in the name of Coromandele Design embarked on a project to develop 30 Swedish style villas on 8.5 acres with an initial budget of more than a billion shillings.

Rents in Riat range between Sh35,000 to Sh60,000. Gated communities such as Victoria Gardens have the middle class as the intended clientele with prices ranging between Sh9 million to Sh16 million. Elly Ongoma, a director at Eldon Properties and head of sales for Victoria Gardens, says first time home buyers are mostly going for the two bedroom units showing a need to develop for the lower end of the market.

“We are kick starting the development of low end homes that will sell between two and three million shillings. What we are calling for is for county governments to provide prerequisite infrastructure so that our targeted end buyers can benefit,” says Ongoma. Like Isiolo, Kisumu is also riding on the recent infrastructure upgrade such as Kisumu airport to international standards.