Kenya’s real estate sector is attracting big investments as investors seek to cash in on huge **using deficit, high returns and infrastructural development amid ****le political climate environment.
The past months have seen several investors announce projects that include building of **uses, student **stels, office blocks and **tels.
Among them is Cool Breeze Development Limited, a Nairobi-based group of investors, which last week unveiled plans to construct five 14-floor blocks in a gated community in Nairobi.
The development would consist of 120 studio apartments, 240 one-bedroom apartments, 148 two-bedroom units and 16 three-bedroom units.
The project, according to the developers, targets middle to high income earners, with the construction set to start soon.
Another developer w** has announced plans to invest in Kenya is Consonance Kuramo Special Opportunities Fund I, a subsidiary of New York-based Kuramo Capital, which bought a stake in Century Developments Limited, a Pan-African real estate development.
The deal w*** see Kuramo invest Ksh 20 b***ion (US$200 m***ion) over the next five years on the development of 10,000 purpose-built student **using units and 7,500 affordable **uses targeting young people and middle-income families in major towns across the East African nation.
Recently, the United Bank of Africa (UBA) Bank, which operates in 20 African countries including Kenya, announced plans to build affordable **using scheme in Kakamega County, in which it w*** finance over 1,000 affordable **using units for Ksh 302 m***ion in partnership with National **using Corporation.
And last week, the Federation of Kenya Employers, which represents collective interests of employers in the country, unveiled plans to put up an eight-storey office building in Upperh***.
Outside Nairobi, **ma Bay County Government announced plans to construct a modern industrial park that w*** cost approximately Ksh 100 m***ion and **st an Export Processing Zone to boost the manufact****g sector.
“These projects are a step in the right direction to***ds addressing the high demand for accommodation across Kenyan ins***utions of higher learning, as well as addressing the **using deficit by construction of affordable **using,” said Cytonn, a Nairobi-based investment firm in a brief.
The investments complement government’s announcement to build 100,000 **using units across the country under the Big Four Agenda proposed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
**wever, the Big Four projects aside, individual investors have also step*** up efforts to construct both residential and commercial buildings.
Data from the Nairobi County **using Department s**w that the value of approved building plans stand at an average of Ksh 250 m***ion a month, up from Ksh 200 m***ion last year.
Antony Kuyo, a consultant with Avent Properties, attributed the boom to the ****le political environment following the unity pact between President Kenyatta and his rival in last year’s polls Raila Odinga, with developers taking advantage of the environment to launch projects.
****ysts expect real estate investment in the East African nation to pick up in the coming months, with both local and foreign firms investing in the sector.
READ: CAPITAL FM’S OLIVE BURROWS JOINS NTV
“We expect to the real estate sector to maintain the expansionary trend due to the high returns from the industry averaging at over 24.3 percent as at December 2017, investment in infrastructure, and continued growth of the **spitality and tourism sectors,” said Cytonn.
Leave a comment