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.
Wellness real estate is taking root not only globally but also in Kenya, with developers developing, designing, and operating residential and commercial properties proactively built to support the holistic physical, mental, and social health of their occupants. 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. This experience hub is a year-round fitness, wellness, children’s, entertainment, work, gastronomy and community platform.
“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 impact is evident with Enaki’s 440 apartments recording 92 per cent occupancy, and several fully occupied unit types having waitlists. 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.
Buoyed by the success and demand of Enaki’s model: researching markets, developing and designing communities, pricing, marketing and selling homes, then remaining to manage them, the firm has broken ground on the second phase of residences centered around a 23,000 sq ft private forest, alongside new fitness, social, work and wellness spaces; the Enaki Forestside, which has so far sold 50 per cent of its homes within its first four months of launching.
“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.
