Articles of Interest - Point Properties Ltd

5 Things Young Home-buyers and Renters Want

Initially, property development was rudimentary and straightforward, just focusing on the basic amenities and enough space for parking or gardening. However, times have changed. We have a whole different generation that is tech-savvy, has unique tastes and know exactly what they want. They are considering these factors when hunting for property to purchase or rent: Within the city/convenience Gone are the days people used to invest in a property located in the outskirts of a city. Millennials prefer to live in hip neighbourhoods in the city; posh and upcoming developments that are near service providers and entertainment joints for convenience. Buying vs Renting Real estate experts will testify that numerous rational millennials are keen on building or buying their first homes instead of renting. They are specific about what they want and don’t want, with a huge bias on specific trends in their homes; luxury, efficiency, and technology. Technology In fact, technology is the key determining factor for a young person to or not to invest in a property. This generation spends most of their time online; shopping, chatting, researching, and working using home Wi-Fi. This is why internet connectivity in homes is a major selling point. Network reception for…

A Nairobi landlord has moved Kenyans on social media following his decision to reduce monthly rent for his tenants. In a letter dated October 17th, the property’s manager identified as Simon Ngugi asked occupants of Muhu Building on Naivasha Road in Dagoretti North, Nairobi to pay Sh2,000 less on rent beginning November 1st, 2019. Occupants have been paying Sh10,000 per month for each unit, meaning the same house will cost them Sh8,000 from this month. The letter also copied to the landlord John Roki, stated that the decision was made to retain current tenants and attract new ones due to “serious business fall.” “We have noted a serious business fall in recent months. We, therefore, extend our support to your business by reducing your rent,” Simon Ngugi noted. “Your new rent from November 1, 2019, is Ksh8, 000 down from Ksh10,000.” Speaking to K24 Digital, the building’s agent Paul Newton confirmed the authenticity of the letter. “Yes, the letter is genuine. We arrived at the decision after keenly scrutinizing how our tenants settled their rent arrears in the last few months. Honestly, we noticed they were struggling to raise the money, and, therefore, we had to reduce the monthly rental…

Experts in the real estate sector have welcomed President Uhuru Kenyatta’s decision to reject the Finance Bill and his recommendation to MPs to scrap lending rate caps saying that if parliament adopts the head of state’s position, the industry will recover massively. Speaking during an interview with Business Today, VAAL Real Estate CEO Majeed Saad said that the capping of interest rates has had a negative effect on the sector as contractors and buyers have struggled to access much-needed credit that would have spurred growth Cap on Interest Rates “In my opinion, repealing the law boards a positive future for real estate in the sector. Just like any other industry, real estate depends on the circulation of money in the economy. So I think that repealing it would be best for all parties involved,” said Mr. Saad. In an interview with Business Today in June, Knight Frank Kenya Managing Director Ben Woodhams said that the industry slowed down in 2016 shortly after the capping of interest rates. “When I came into the Kenyan market in 2003, we witnessed growth in the property market through to 2015. Even though the global economic recession in 2007, we witnessed the Kenyan economy and the real estate market…

In Kenya, the real estate industry is a free market in that the price of housing is driven by supply and demand. The higher the demand, the higher the prices with the inverse also applying. Over the last couple of years, the Kenyan economy has witnessed exponential growth of the middle-class. What this means is that as the disposable incomes of more Kenyans increase, many people are able to construct their own homes and are also able to get mortgages to buy houses. This, in turn, fuels the real estate sector. As the real estate industry appears to be more lucrative and with limited supply, speculators come in, further driving the prices higher. A housing bubble comes about when the market prices reach unsustainable levels and naturally decline. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the bubble is a temporary event which may last up to several years. The property sector exists in relation with other sectors and one can predict the trend of real estate with other factors in the economy. With these, you can identity a housing bubble. But how can one predict the markets? How can one differentiate the realistic price rise from the bubbles? Read more……

The 2018 World Bank report on the ease of doing business in Kenya based on the parameter of acquisition of building permits and development approvals ranked the country at position 124, below Rwanda (112), Botswana (59) and Namibia (107). The poor ranking was attributed to the long processes and lengthy periods needed to acquire a development permit with some applications taking up to 156 days. A recent survey conducted by the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) indicates that while Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu counties had e-construction permit systems, users still face a myriad of challenges including frequent downtimes and delays in processing of applications. The average time taken to acquire a building permit in Nairobi ranges from between three months to two years. The delays a largely due to the human interaction with the portal. These delays not only impact negatively on investor confidence and ease of doing business in Nairobi, but also serve as a precursor to the construction of unauthorised structures and urban sprawl. The Central Bank 2018 fourth quarter report revealed that real estate developers were the biggest loan defaulters at Sh44.4 billion, a 15.8 percent rise outpacing non-performing loans by manufacturers (11.7 percent) and traders (7.3…

You cannot be Kenyan if you have never heard of Ongata Rongai town, popularly known as just Rongai or Ronga. It is a favourite subject by savvy social media users always creating ridiculous memes about it, mostly about its distance from Nairobi town. History Ongata Rongai is a peri-urban settlement at the outskirts of Nairobi located in Kajiado County and is situated 17 km (10.6 mi) south of Nairobi town. Although largely located within Nairobi metropolitan, it does not fall within the administrative boundaries of the city and is separated from Nairobi city proper by the Mbagathi River. It is divided into two administrative locations, Nkaimurunya and Rongai, which are separated by the Magadi road. Historically occupied by the Maasai people, present-day Ongata Rongai grew from a meeting of a cattle market in the northernmost tip of Kajiado County and the quarry township in present-day Kware. The cattle market and the quarry spread rapidly and joined in the late 1950s. Community The Maasai people occupy majorly the rural parts of Rongai where they still practice their major economic activity, livestock rearing. However, the town has a diverse population due to its proximity to Nairobi. Economy Ongata Rongai is mostly dominated by middle-income earners and is…

Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate, the property development arm of Indian Shapoorji Pallonji Group, has entered the Kenyan market with plans to build a multi-billion shilling estate in Nairobi. The Mi Vida Homes project at Nairobi’s Garden City Mall on Thika Road will be developed through a Sh12 billion fund established by Shapoorji Pallonji and its joint venture partner Actis. The joint partners will develop some 624 apartments, which will be sold to prospective buyers for Sh6 million (one bedroom) and Sh9 million for a two-bedroom unit. A three-bedroom unit will be sold for Sh14 million. The Mi Vida Homes project’s chief executive Chris Colson says the partners will next month open an experiential facility on-site to showcase the proposed homes to prospective buyers. “This August will see us open customer sales and an experiential facility where showroom houses will be built. We want to avoid a scenario where buyers hardly know what they are buying,” Mr. Colson said on Wednesday. Mi Vida (Spanish for ‘my life’) will be built in three phases. The first phase includes the construction of two blocks rising 13 floors with a total of 208 one-, two- and three-bedroom units. The segment will be completed in 26 months…