How Nairobi’s posh estates losing prestige over mushrooming kiosks
In early August, a fierce debate erupted on social media, particularly on X, over the rapid decline in the prestige of Nairobi’s once upmarket residential estates.
An X user, identified as Alfayaz11, wrote: “Nairobi County has really lost the plot. Who in their right mind puts kiosks right outside people’s homes, devaluing high-end properties and ruining what was once a beautiful green area? We even cut down old trees to make way for these county kiosks. From the day they began erecting them in December, I said it: this place will soon start deteriorating.”
He clarified that he was not opposed to kiosks in principle, but insisted there must be proper planning, appropriate locations, adequate spacing, and respect for the environment.
“Now even pedestrian walkways are taken over by smokie carts, mannequins and people frying fish. What kind of backward mindset is this? It’s true what they say: give someone with no understanding of a city the keys to the capital, and they’ll run it like a village,” he posted.
His remarks triggered varied reactions, many lamenting the changing face of Nairobi estates due to poor planning attributed to the authorities.
“I’m old enough to have witnessed the decay across Nairobi and its peri-urban environs from the colonial infrastructure to date. We Kenyans, despite education, are not civilised enough to manage a serious city or nation. It hurts to admit it, but it’s 100 per cent true,” another X user reacted.
Christopher Haslett blamed political leadership and its obsession with winning votes.
“This has always been about votes. They don’t allow such businesses in the very pricey areas where politicians and billionaires live, but everywhere else will be colonised by them,” he said.
The declining standards of Nairobi’s formerly posh estates have also seen property values dip.
Developers and landlords in Nairobi suburbs have, in some cases, been forced to lower asking prices for units in their apartments.
According to the Hass Property Price Indices for the first quarter of 2025, leafy suburbs recorded a contraction in asking prices for the first time in two years, by -0.8 per cent.
HassConsult, a real estate firm, noted that this was driven by significant contractions in Muthaiga (-4.9 per cent), Nyari (-4.7 per cent), and Kilimani (-4.6 per cent).
Nairobi’s suburbs include Karen, Runda, Muthaiga, Lavington, Kileleshwa, Westlands, Lang’ata, Nyari, Ridgeways, Spring Valley, Gigiri, Kilimani, and Loresho.
The mushrooming of kiosks and other informal structures has even sparked conflicts and court battles.
