Paul Arithi 
Social Connection Emerges as a New Residential Value Driver in Kenya, as Property Developer HassConsult Expands Enaki Model;
- As Kenya’s record-breaking digital usage moves more of everyday life onto screens, everyday community life is becoming increasingly fragmented.
- HassConsult is responding to this gap with Elevate by Hass, a new resident experience platform designed to bring connection to residential living.
- Enaki is the first development to pilot the platform, turning amenities into an active, year-round resident experience across fitness, wellness, entertainment, work, dining and activated community events.
- The early commercial signals are strong:Enaki’s completed first phase is 92% occupied with resident waitlists, while Forestside sold 50% of its homes within four months of launch and platform partners cite commercial outperformance.
- Now HassConsult is scaling the platform across its developments, positioning resident experience alongside research,development, sales,letting and property management as a core part of how it sustains residential value.
The wellness real estate sector is now estimated to be valued at Ksh78.9 trillion (US$548 billion) globally and projected to reach over Ksh129 trillion ($1 trillion) by 2029, according to the latest Global Wellness Communities and Real Estate (GWI 2026) report.
The report adds that people with access to social infrastructure are three times more likely to say they have close friends, 32 per cent versus 9 per cent,and identifies design and intentional programming as tools for creating connection.
The report noted that Kenyans spend more hours on social media than any other nation, with 20 per cent averaging over six hours a day.It further noted that 26 per cent of Kenyan employees experienced loneliness a lot.
Globally, the response is becoming an industry, one that Kenyan developers are now picking on.HassConsult, the developers of Enaki Town,which was conceived as a holistic lifestyle community,based on the need for greener, more sociable, resort-style living in the city,have now introduced Elevate by Hass.
“The traditional measures of residential value,location, size, specification, are no longer the full picture.When residents genuinely belong to where they live, it shows up commercially.” Farhana Hassanali Co-Ceo and Development Director, HassConsult.
The performance provides an early signal that Kenya,already a global frontrunner in the digital behaviours driving social isolation,could also emerge as a leading market for the social connection sector.
At Enaki Town,a purpose-built movement studio was designed for permanent fitness and wellness programming, delivered by specialist operator Yves Preissler,while Artcaffé operates a marketplace conceived as a social hub and now hosting high teas,kid’s baking competitions and cultural festivals.
“The design brief of the future has to include human connection as an outcome.What draws people out of their homes and keeps them coming back cannot be left to chance.
It must be designed,programmed and sustained.” Sakina Hassanali, Co-Ceo and Creative Director, HassConsult.
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