Skunks,
I read this article in the standard that had some interesting statistics on the housing market in Kenya. It got me thinking a lot in light of the perceived housing "BOOM" with real estate agents saying that houses are going like hotcakes yet as an IT professional with a modest income, am yet to come to terms with a decent mortgage package in a middle class estate that I can afford, and im not talking about Kilimani etc But Buru Buru south C etc
Just to give article excerpts :-
- Highlights of a report by Central Bank
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and World Bank released last week that says only eight per cent of Kenyans — 320, 000 households — can afford a mortgage was shocking
- The report commissioned by CBK that will be released fully in a month’s time, also indicates that for one to buy a house worth Sh2 million, for example, one must have a net salary of Sh100,000, and service the loan at Sh42,000 a month for a period of 15 years at an interest rate
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of 14.5 per cent.
- The shocking revelations also indicate that the total mortgage loan book in the country is only 16,000 accounts, while the total value of mortgage loans, as at the end of December last year was Sh133.6 billion.
- It is also an indication that buying property in Kenya is predominantly for the rich, who opt for cash sales as opposed to mortgages.
This alludes that much of the housing market is a cash market with money acquired through dubious means. Methinks there must be a bubble somewhere that does not correspond to the tenets of economics.
Regards
Kevin Omondi