Kenya Attracts International Property Dealers

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International property marketers have turned their attention to Kenya, hoping to sell high end apartments in Dubai and London to the African country's growing wealthy class.

Dubai-based Emaar Properties, developer of Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, is in Kenya marketing townhouses in the new Mira development, with units typically priced about $271,000, according to Business Daily Africa.

In February, Emaar pitched Kenyans apartments in The Address Residence Sky View, where a one-bedroom unit was priced at about $785,000.

The British property investment firm Seer Acquisitions has also advertised in local papers, looking for Kenyans to buy "self-contained" student apartments in Birmingham starting at $60,675.

The foreign property developers are advertising "high rental returns, stable housing prices and friendly property ownership regulations," to attract Kenyan investors, according to Business Daily.

"The target is the emerging class of very wealthy Kenyans who want to buy holiday homes or those that need to diversify their investment portfolios," David Gikandi, the local representative of Dubai-based Damac Properties, told the paper. "The Dubai property market is very attractive as it offers annual returns of about 15 per cent."

With demand still high for residential and office space, prices for prime property in Dubai increased 20 percent last year, according to Knight Frank's Global Cities Index.