Low-Cost Rentals in Kenya: Where to Build 1BR and Studio Apartments

Business flourishes where there is demand. The same is true with rental apartments.

Before you start building, survey the area. Understand the market. Who is renting there? What are their expectations? What are the growth projections for the area? Who is building today and who is likely to build tomorrow? What amenities are available? What is the government development plan for the area? And finally, do the planning rules of the area allow for the kind of structure you have in mind?

Serving Students: A Case for Low-Cost Rentals

Ever thought about building apartments for students? Well we covered this briefly on our article analyzing the effect that KIST (now Kiambu National Polytechnic) has had on Kirigiti.

Students are one of the easiest markets one can break into with rental apartments not bigger than one bedroom and moderate finishes. What's even better is that the economics demand that students stay close to their campuses so any building that is close enough to walk to and from soon becomes a beehive of activity. Like bees, student populations are a demand that comes and goes with the cycles of their academic calendars, but is always there.

Beyond housing the students, centers within proximity of huge institutions of higher learning also provide housing for the wider local economy that serves students’ needs. Atieno, the mama mboga that also sells pre-boiled legumes because students are too busy for long cooks. The kindergarten school teacher that Atieno thinks is a fantastic teacher for teaching her child the ABCs and the mechanic next door who repaired the school bus recently, saving her little one the agony of walking to school. It is a whole economy!

So what do students really need?

One thing to understand is that students don't just rent a room. They rent walking distance, running water, a lockable door, internet they can stream on, and a place their mother won't worry about. So for the investor, the distance from the college/campus gate matters more than the price of the plot. A cheap plot that students can't walk to safely in the long run is an expensive plot.

Why Student Housing Is Worth Studying

Kenya's higher education market is deep. The Commission for University Education's May 2026 approved list includes 36 public chartered universities and 32 private chartered ones, plus colleges and other institutions. That's a lot of students needing a roof over their heads.

And that is demand that only gets bigger with the cycles. Final-year students graduate and leave. The next lot arrives at a time when the university has finally decided to start offering some AI-based course, hence the admissions keep growing, driving the demand for related services such as high speed internet. Because, who wants to chat to bots on a buffering-stutter loop?

For this market, build small units to spread your risk. One vacancy in a ten-unit block costs you a tenth of your monthly income. Conversely, a vacancy in a single-family house is your entire rent gone. That difference in yield is a game changer.

In many cases, studios and bedsitters are your strongest starting point. A good studio runs about 20 to 25 square metres, with a private room, cooking space, bathroom, bed area, and study corner. They're cheaper to build, you fit more on a plot, and they rent to the largest segment of the student market.

However, an even better mix is to have some one-bedroom apartments too. One-bedroom units need more space, typically 35 to 45 square metres. These will mostly attract final-year students, postgraduates, married students, young lecturers, nurses, interns, and early-career workers who have a bit more budget and are too embedded into the student economy to live far away. These apartments will definitely earn more per unit, but you fit fewer on the plot. They may also go longer unoccupied so there is a trade-off to be carefully considered.

Our advice: if the area is mainly undergraduate, lean toward studios. If the campus sits inside a larger town with working tenants, mix studios with a few one-bedrooms. We can also help you with research to determine what fills fastest and what stays vacant for longer.

The decision matrix

Once we have determined the right blend of bedsitters and larger apartments, the next stage is to ensure the build is oriented to meeting the students' needs as much as possible. Here, we have a few things to put into consideration.

Proximity to the class

Literally speaking, how many steps does a student need to take to be sitting in class before the lecture starts. Students often live on a shoestring budget so being able to walk to class is very important to many.

Security

If you expect students to get walk, how safe is the route they use? Some may have evening classes, will they be safe at night? Have secure doors and guards manning the gates. Remember, safety is not only the absence of crime but also the absence of other forms of harm. For example, does the route have open manholes? Is there a footpath?

Essential services & Amenities

What is the water and sewer situation like? Are there affordable yet reliable internet service providers? Is there a hospital or dispensary nearby? A shopping mall, food market and entertainment spots? All these count for something. Ensure your build makes provisions for a student's essential amenities.

For example, internet is a given, wire up all the apartments then charge for internet. That could be an extra coin in your bank.

Leave space at the rooftop for recreation and set a few pool tables and possibly a huge TV screen and DSTV subscription to show matches, then rent out the rest of the rooftop restaurant to Atieno so she can start making chips kuku too.

On the ground floor, build out one or two structures to be a shop, grocery or small supermarket.

Students also generate a lot of waste, ensure you have ample running water and sanitation services to keep the building and it's surroundings clean.

Most of all, do not forget that these are students. So a very well lit space to study is paramount. Also, students tend to share rooms so make provisions for some air-conditioning, ceiling fans are often sufficient.

After these essentials, you can then throw in other features for a more premium experience such as elevators, pools and so on based on the calibre of student you expect to attract and serve.

Kenya’s student housing market is not only broad in terms of institutions; it is large in actual student numbers. CUE’s 2024/2025 university statistics reported 628,541 degree-programme students in 2024. Add TVETs, national polytechnics, teacher-training colleges, medical training colleges, and private colleges, and the housing opportunity becomes much wider than universities alone.

Low-cost rentals near student populations can be one of the better Kenya investments for a diaspora builder. If well planned and executed, they can ensure stable rental incomes for many years.

If you have land near an institution, or you are considering developing apartments for the booming student population, you may be onto something big. We can review the site, prepare a project-specific BOQ, check the build plan, and show you how to manage the build from abroad with CCTV, receipts, approvals, and a live dashboard.