Studio Furnished Apartments in Westlands, Nairobi — Expat Housing, KES 100,000 – 200,000/month, Long Stay

Westlands is where Nairobi does business and then goes out for dinner. In fifteen years it has gone from a leafy suburb of bungalows to the densest cluster of grade-A office towers outside the CBD, and the furnished-apartment market followed the tenants. Sarit Centre, Westgate and The Oval anchor the retail and office core; Waiyaki Way and the Nairobi Expressway put the CBD roughly twenty minutes away outside peak, and JKIA around forty-five. The apartment stock is mostly newer high-rise: lifts, borehole water, backup generators, gyms and basement parking are standard rather than a bonus in anything built after 2018. Cytonn's research has consistently placed Westlands among Nairobi's strongest serviced-apartment submarkets, with rental yields around 11.4% and monthly service charges near KES 4,658 per square metre — high, but a reflection of the amenity load. Tenants skew corporate: consultants on three-to-nine-month postings, regional managers, embassy contractors, and a growing group of remote workers who want fibre, a lift and a supermarket within walking distance. Nightlife is a genuine consideration — Woodvale Grove and Mpaka Road are loud on weekends, so ask which way the bedroom faces.

Expat tenants gravitate to Westlands for reasons that are specific rather than general. Sarit Centre is roughly 0.8 km away, about 4 minutes by car outside peak. The area rates 4 out of 5 on practical tenant security and 78 out of 100 on walkability, which matters more than most listings admit when you are new to the city. What we prioritise for this brief is landlord identity and ownership verified before you transfer anything, and live video viewings. For long stays of six months or more, the practical implication is lease structure: expect a six or twelve month lease, two months' deposit, and meaningfully better monthly rates than short-stay equivalents.

Studio furnished units in Westlands sit at KES 80,000 – KES 120,000 per month across the market as a whole. Within the kes 100,000 – 200,000 band specifically, you are looking at units where backup power, water storage, secure parking and 24-hour security are standard, with a gym in newer blocks. Service charge in Westlands averages around KES 4,658 per square metre per month, so confirm whether the quoted rent is inclusive. Rental yield in the area runs at about 11.4%, which is useful context for how hard a landlord will negotiate: high-yield, high-supply areas negotiate; 79.1% occupancy tells you how much room you actually have.

Source: Knight Frank Kenya, HassConsult Property Index, Cytonn Real Estate research, verified landlord submissions.