Significant capital flowing in, growing international buyer interest, construction booming — and brand investment near zero. Structured equity in named project SPVs. Escrow-protected. Debt-free at acquisition through to handover. Reported monthly, audited annually. We underwrite our own work conservatively, and we want partners who underwrite ours the same way.
The investment case for Nairobi
East Africa's largest economy, the UN's African seat, and a residential market where prime yields still outperform most global capitals.
Westlands delivers prime residential rental yields of 6.5–8.8% on apartments, with serviced units reaching 8.7% — outperforming Nairobi's market average of 5.6% and prime yields in most global capital cities.¹ Capital appreciation in the corridor has tracked 5–8% annually, with recent Cytonn data citing 16.3% appreciation contributing to a total return of 23.9% in standout periods.¹
Kenya is East Africa's largest economy — roughly 40% of the EAC's combined GDP, growing 4.6% in 2025 against 4.7% the year before.²,⁴ Within Kenya, Nairobi County alone contributes about 27.5% of national GDP and concentrates the country's financial, diplomatic, and transport infrastructure.² Eighty percent of East African trade flows through Mombasa Port, on Nairobi's logistics axis.²
Nairobi is the only UN headquarters city in the Global South. The Secretary-General has confirmed at least three agency headquarters — UNICEF, UNFPA, and UN Women — relocating to Nairobi by end-2026.⁵ The General Assembly has approved nearly US$340 million of construction at the UN Office at Nairobi, the largest UN Secretariat investment in Africa to date.⁵ Diplomatic, NGO, and multilateral demand sits structurally above local supply for prime residential.
Kenyan diaspora remittances reached a record US$5.04 billion in 2025, surpassing tea, coffee, and tourism combined as the country's largest source of foreign exchange.³ The Central Bank projects US$5.24 billion in 2026.³ Real estate consistently ranks as the leading investment use of these inflows, with prime Nairobi residential a primary destination.
Article 65 of the 2010 Constitution permits non-citizens to hold land on leasehold tenure for up to 99 years.⁶ Title is registered, transferable, mortgageable, and inheritable. The framework is uniform, codified, and consistently applied — no special-purpose vehicles required, no jurisdictional grey zones, no quota schemes. We can introduce counsel for the conveyancing if useful.
Kenya's Vision 2030 framework is mid-execution. The Nairobi Expressway has been operating since 2022 and runs directly past the Westlands corridor. The Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway is operational and extending to Naivasha, with funded onward sections to Kisumu and Malaba.⁷ The 440-km Nairobi–Mombasa Usahihi Expressway, a US$3.5 billion PPP, is scheduled to begin construction in 2026 and will compress the coastal journey to four-and-a-half hours.⁷
The thesis
Same size, same floor, same view. One sells for KES 15 million. The other for KES 22 million. Brand is not a marketing layer; it is the buying decision. Three of the five factors a buyer needs before purchasing are about the developer. Three of the five reasons a buyer rejects a purchase are about the developer. Capital that understands this enters early.
Nairobi has durable premium-rental demand from UN, diplomatic, expat, and HNW residents — and a generation of buildings that did not deliver what their brochures promised. Capital wants the exposure. It is short on developers it can underwrite without flinching.
Danish-led design conviction. Vertical integration from site planning to door hardware. Debt-free at acquisition through to handover. The gap between promise and delivery should not exist; we exist to close it.
Equity participates in a named project SPV. Buyer deposits sit with Stanmore Trust Kenya Limited, a CMA-licensed escrow trustee. Construction milestones gate cash flow, counter-signed by Knight Mwangi Quantity Surveyors. Annual statutory audit by Bowman Adair Kenya. EDGE audit by GEcon Africa. Capital advisory by Ström Partners, Copenhagen.
Eighteen floors, ninety-two residences on Raptor Road, Westlands (LR No. 1870/IV/237) — walking distance to the diplomatic and commercial core of Nairobi. Construction is on floors nine through twelve as of May 2026. Handover is set for Q2 2029. Designed for an institutional rental cohort and a long-hold owner-occupier base, not for speculative flipping.
The Investor Brief covers the SPV structure, capital stack, underwriting assumptions, comparable evidence, sensitivity analysis, and exit pathways at handover. It is not a pitch deck. It is the document we would want to read if we were the investor.
The blueprint
Ellington Properties solved the exact problem DEMAR is solving: how a new entrant builds premium credibility in an emerging market dominated by established mega-developers. Ahead-of-schedule handovers, monthly public construction updates, occupancy rates significantly above the area average. By August 2025, Ellington had completed 929 transactions totalling AED 2.2 billion in cumulative sales. Emaar reached its scale — over 90,000 residential units, AED 100 billion in cumulative revenue — by treating each project as a building block of a single brand. Perception creates value. The product is the same; the story is the difference.
50–200 units per project, the way Ellington built. The Dagaz at 92 residences is sized to allow every design decision to be made with care — and every reserver to be known by name on the day they take keys.
Every DEMAR project carries the parent brand. No project-specific identities, no sub-brand dilution. Each development reinforces the reputation built by the one before it. Buyers will recognise a DEMAR building before they see the sign.
Specificity is the language of trust. Trust is not a feeling; it is an evidence trail. EDGE-KE-2025-00148. 24-month defects warranty. Late-delivery penalty 0.5% per month, capped at 6%. Tolerances published before the slab is poured.
How the capital is held
Each project is its own entity, with Otieno & Patel Advocates LLP as legal counsel. No cross-collateralisation between projects. No upstream surprises. Investors see the project, not the developer balance sheet.
Buyer deposits sit with Stanmore Trust Kenya Limited, a CMA-licensed escrow trustee. Funds are released against the four contracted milestones (10/20/30/40%) only on counter-signature by Knight Mwangi Quantity Surveyors. Buyer deposits and construction-all-risks cover are insured by Riverside Indemnity Kenya.
Projects are structured debt-free at acquisition through to handover. Cash flow stress is borne by structure, not by counterparty risk. Senior debt requires investor approval. Capital advisory by Ström Partners, Copenhagen.
EDGE Advanced certification (EDGE-KE-2025-00148) audited by GEcon Africa, an IFC EDGE registered auditor. Annual statutory financial audit by Bowman Adair Kenya. Monthly construction log signed by the site engineer. Quarterly investor reporting in writing.
The pipeline
The DEMAR strategy is a deliberate sequence of three to four premium residential projects in Nairobi over the next six years. Each is its own SPV. Each is debt-free at acquisition through to handover. Each is escrow-protected at Stanmore Trust Kenya. Each carries a single architect-led design language under Lars-Henrik Mortensen and the DEMAR studio. Investors who join at Phase 1 see what comes next first; participation in later projects is optional, never bundled.
Phase 1
Raptor Road, LR No. 1870/IV/237. Eighteen floors, 92 residences. Under construction; on floors 9–12 as of May 2026. EDGE Advanced (EDGE-KE-2025-00148). Handover Q2 2029.
Phase 2
Fourteen-storey residence in Lavington. Site under contract. Project name disclosed at first investor close. Same SPV-and-escrow architecture as The Dagaz.
Phase 3
Premium low-rise residential in Karen — under preliminary review. Sequenced after Lavington reaches sales-launch milestone. We are building a developer, not a fund.
TWO JOURNEYS · ONE BUILDING
Everything else is in the answers below.
| Dimension | Local buyer | International buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Title type | Local buyerSectional title under the Sectional Properties Act 2020 | International buyerSectional title under the Sectional Properties Act 2020 — held on a 99-year leasehold |
| Settlement currency | Local buyerKES | International buyerUSD / EUR / GBP / AED reference, settled into KES on the contract date |
| Stamp duty | Local buyer4 % on transfer | International buyer4 % on transfer |
| Rental tax | Local buyer7.5 % MRI on gross rent (resident landlords with annual rent under 15 M) | International buyer30 % WHT under Section 35 of the Income Tax Act, deducted at source by the management agent — DTAA reduces for treaty buyers |
| Residency benefit | Local buyer— | International buyerNone. Kenya does not link property ownership to a residence permit. Visa categories are decided independently by Immigration. |
RESERVE · THE DAGAZ
Two answers to every question — for those buying from Nairobi, and for those buying from abroad.
Kenyan citizens, registered Kenyan companies, and holders of valid Kenyan resident permits. Limited liability companies provide a certificate of incorporation, a KRA PIN, and a board resolution authorising the purchase. Couples may purchase as joint tenants or tenants in common — the form is noted at reservation.
Five percent on reservation. A further twenty percent on signing the Sale Agreement, within twenty-one days. Construction draws against milestones independently certified by Knight Mwangi Quantity Surveyors. Twenty-five percent on handover. The full schedule is included in the spec sheet for each residence type.
Every instalment lands in a project escrow held by Stanmore Trust Kenya Limited. Disbursement is gated to quantity-surveyor-certified milestones, not calendar dates. Construction risk is insured under Riverside Indemnity Kenya. Project accounts are audited by Bowman Adair Kenya at sign-off.
Stamp duty of four percent on the transfer value, payable to the Kenya Revenue Authority. Land registry fees on title issuance. Legal fees on the scale set by the Advocates Remuneration Order. A one-time service charge advance on handover, banded by residence type. Figures current as of 2026 — confirm with your tax advisor before contract.
Pre-arranged facilities with three Kenyan lenders, on terms reviewed annually. Indicative bands: up to eighty percent loan-to-value for an owner-occupied residence; up to sixty percent for buy-to-let. Final terms are set by the lender on their own credit criteria — we make the introduction; we are not the broker.
The Westlands prime apartment band over the past three years has run six-and-a-half to eight-and-a-half percent net of service charge for two- and three-bedroom residences. Penthouse yields run lower on a percentage basis but stronger on absolute net rent. Each band will be re-confirmed by an independent valuer audited at sign-off.
Westgate Living Management, under a ten-year service-level agreement. Their scope covers letting, tenant placement, routine maintenance, the common-area capital plan, and a monthly owner statement. Service-charge bands are capped under the SLA.
Practical completion is targeted for Q2 2029. The construction log at /projects/the-dagaz/construction is updated weekly by Joseph K. Otieno, MICE — site engineer of record. Each entry carries the photograph, milestone, and quantity-surveyor sign-off for that week.
Yes. Apartments at The Dagaz are sold on a ninety-nine-year leasehold basis under the Sectional Properties Act 2020 — the canonical title for apartment ownership in Kenya. The lease is registrable in the Lands Registry, transferable on resale, and inheritable.
Headline pricing is set in Kenyan Shillings. We accept settlement reference in USD, EUR, GBP, or AED at the spot rate on the contract date. Funds clear into the project escrow held by Stanmore Trust Kenya Limited; conversion is recorded against the agreed reference rate.
Kenya does not impose currency controls on bona fide property transactions. Capital on resale is repatriable. Rental income is repatriable after Kenyan tax. Westgate Living Management settles monthly net rent in your nominated foreign currency at the spot rate on payment date.
Stamp duty of four percent on transfer. Withholding tax on rental income paid to a non-resident landlord — thirty percent of gross rent under Section 35 of the Income Tax Act, deducted at source by the management agent and remitted to the Kenya Revenue Authority. Reduced rates can apply where Kenya holds a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement with your country of residence. Capital gains tax of fifteen percent on disposal gain. Figures current as of 2026 — confirm with your tax advisor before contract.
A registered leasehold certificate issued by the Lands Registry, in your name or in the name of a holding entity you nominate. Sectional title plans for the building are filed and registered before handover. Original title travels with the legal pack; we hold a certified copy.
No. Kenya does not link property ownership to a residence permit. Visa categories such as the Investor Permit (Class G) or the Retiree Permit (Class K) are decided by the Department of Immigration on their own criteria, independent of any property transaction. We do not advise on immigration matters.
Westgate Living Management, under the building-wide ten-year SLA, handles letting, tenant placement, maintenance, and monthly statements in your nominated currency. Their absentee-owner desk is the single point of contact for international owners.
Optionally. We do not offer foreign-exchange services in-house. Buyers who want a structured hedge against KES exposure across the construction draw schedule are introduced to Ström Partners — our named capital-advisory partner — who can quote the instrument on its own terms.
A clear copy of your passport, a proof of address dated within ninety days, and a Kenya Revenue Authority PIN. We assist with the KRA PIN application — it is required by law for any property transaction in Kenya and takes around five working days.
Tax rates and statutory references stated as current of 2026. The Dagaz reservation pack carries the contractual statement of fees, taxes, and protections. Buyers should take independent tax and legal advice in their own jurisdiction before signing.
Still asking? Speak to our reservations desk
Request the brief
We do not publish the brief. Request it from partners@demar.properties and we will send it after a short conversation, so we can tailor what we share to the questions you actually have. The first call is forty-five minutes.