Athi River is a town about 20 minutes from downtown Nairobi. The town is relatively industrialised, with major industries like East Africa Portland cement and EPZ headquartered there. Athi River town is a fast growing residential area due to its proximity to the capital. The town has a railway station built in 1920 along the Mombasa - Nairobi line. The Daystar University has a campus in Athi River. The town is named after Athi, the first part of the Athi-Galana river system.
Athi River town is adjacent to Kitengela town, but is part of the Machakos District in Eastern Province, while Kitengela belongs to Kajiado District in the Rift Valley Province.
Property experts are predicting a rise in prices in commercial and residential property in Athi River with the planned construction of East Africa's first ever digital city in Nairobi's satellite industrial town.

Some are buying land and constructing houses in readiness for occupation when Mombasa Road is converted into a modern dual carriage- highway. Nearly all players see the Mombasa Road stretch between Mlolongo as the hotspot in town.

Fuelling the demand are future prospects of a modern highway, construction of bypasses linking the road to strategic towns like Namanga—a border town— and the area’s location in relation to the airport and the industrial area are some of the reasons real estate players are putting forth as the cause of rise in demand.

Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) and other leading realtors says the Mombasa Road Stretch to Athi River region has the best property prospects to anybody wishing to put up property either for personal occupation or for speculative purposes.