With the stock market having counters at ridiculous P/E's, I decided to stay out of the market until sobriety returns. I find real estate a rather interesting venture, where in my personal opinion, eyes are normally deceiving. Mesmerized by the sector and green as they come, I did some digging. It turns out the average return on land around Nairobi is around 25% every year http://www.a4architect.c...d-nairobi-2000-to-2013/ ....I also discovered that the yields in real estate average the following depending on the target market...High end 9.2%, Low End 7% and Middle Class 5% as seen from this source http://www.a4architect.c...investment-yield-kenya/ ... therefore, from a rational point of view, considering an investor with who needs to park his money somewhere for five years, the best investment is in bare land where the returns exceed 100%, followed by the high end sector and then the low end market, the fence sitter (middle income market) comes in last. But currently, there is an oversupply in the high end market which means the returns are such that the guy who invests for the low end market gets the best returns, followed by the middle income and then the high end. Either way, I strongly think that an investor who purely invests in land and not the buildings gets the most returns by far. The only reason for him to worry would be if the government started taxing idle land which would prompt him to plant trees or fruits on his plots to avoid taxation. With pieces of land within a 50 mile radius from KICC still costing below 0.5 million in some areas with water and electricity, I think this is where I will be putting my money in the next two years or so. The population of Nairobi is expected to hit 8 million by 2025, and Nairobi contributes over 40% of Kenya's GDP. I think investing in these cheap plots within a 50 mile radius from CBD is the best strategy going forward when the market is terribly overpriced.

As you make your decision, it is also important to contend with fact that, disposing a parcel of land normally takes longer time than disposing securities.

One lesson I came to contend with about land brokers is that, they can let go a customer who is willing and able to pay your price - If the customer does not hit their mark up price.

-Utawala i hear is governed by very ruthless land gangs that are well connected politically that can swindle you and you wont take them anywhere

-Murera iko na ukora mob sana, excess actually. Brokers and unprofessional brokers had invaded that Ruiru videadly!!

would recomend kangundo road, tuala, kisamis for the 50km radius