Summary
- Many Nairobi residents are ditching rented homes in city estates in favour of cheaper ones in the suburbs as the cost of living soars.
- Realtor HassConsult said Tuesday that asking rents in the city have surged nearly threefold from 2007, pushing many to far-flung areas.
- They have relocated to satellite towns like Ngong, Kitengela, Rongai, Ruai and Ruiru, which have also not been spared rising rents due to the influx of new customers.
Many Nairobi residents are ditching rented homes in city estates
in favour of cheaper ones in the
suburbs as the cost of living soars.
suburbs as the cost of living soars.
Realtor
HassConsult said Tuesday that asking rents in the city have surged
nearly threefold from 2007, pushing many to far-flung areas.
They
have relocated to satellite towns like Ngong, Kitengela, Rongai, Ruai
and Ruiru, which have also not been spared rising rents due to the
influx of new customers.
“Asking rents for a modern
apartment here may cost as little as Sh23,400 and this bodes well for
many tenants who are now preferring affordable units as they take
caution to save in the wake of job losses across all sectors,” Hass
Consult head of development, consulting and research Sakina Hassanali
said during the release of first quarter residential and land price
indices.
She said the city residents would rather dig
deeper into their pockets for transport and spend more time in longer
commutes but get the cheaper homes. “As the cost of living soars, the
lower middle class is opting to pay slightly more in transport but less
in rents.” Several companies have announced thousands of job cuts in
recent months.
The report says apartments in Thika recorded the highest annual
growth in rents at 13.3 percent while Tigoni had the highest quarterly
rate increase at 3.5 percent.
Kenya’s housing deficit
is estimated at two million units, according to official estimates,
though current production is only adding around 50,000 per year.
According
to the World Bank besides addressing the housing gap, the government
should provide incentives to developers to create affordable housing as
stipulated in the Constitution of Kenya and the National Development
Plan, Vision 2030 Strategy.
“These blueprints have targeted the provision of 200,000 housing units annually for all income levels,” it says.
“However, the production of housing units is currently at less than 50,000 units annually, well below the target number.”
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