The rate of millennials and especially young women investing in land and houses has been growing by 20 per cent annually since 2013, real estate industry players say. This trend is attributed to the growing population of young people who are forward-looking, armed with investments plans and who are money hungry.
Property Reality Company chief executive Brian Gacari said at least 50 per cent of young people aged between 20 to 35 years have in one way or the other invested in the company’s assets, a majority of them being women.
According to data from the property firm, only 10 per cent of their customer base constitutes persons aged 40 years and above while 40 per cent are aged 35 to 40 years.
Optiven Limited chief executive George Wachiuri also confirmed an increasing trend since 2014 of young people investing in property with the highlight being a group of four millennials who purchased an acre in one of their projects. The company now boasts of 35 to 40 per cent of people aged 21 years and above forming their customer base.
“Millennials are progressively proficient at pressing the essential buttons governing both their individual and their families’ wealth. They have been bolstered by their budding investment acumen and augmented by professional experience,” Wachiuri said.
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Released in March this year, the Wealth Report’s Attitudes Survey by Knight Frank, a commercial property firm, showed that most important factors in wealth management and investment decisions for high-net-worth millennials in Kenya are, innovative investing -74 per cent, capital growth 58 per cent, portfolio diversification 47 per cent, portfolio liquidity 47 per cent and ability to move wealth quickly around the world rating at 37 per cent.
When launching the report, Ben Woodhams of Knight Frank Kenya said: “Kenyan high-net-worth individuals clearly realise the long-term stability that property investments offer in an otherwise volatile market together with the good returns that the sector has demonstrated in the past.”
Other reasons attributed to this rising population of young investors include disposable income, where most young people have landed good jobs which are well paying and have fewer social responsibilities.
Positive peer pressure from parents and mentors, breeding nest, where most of them are raising families at a young age and an increasing rate of an educated generation are the other factors.
