Call for affordable housing in Nairobi

By Ferdinand Mwongela

The 10th Kenya Homes Expo, which closed on Sunday at KICC, Nairobi, was a huge success. Hundreds of visitors turned up to check out hundreds of properties on offer and various associated services.

An aerial view of Tsavo Ballroom at KICC, the venue of the exhibition

Running under the theme; ‘Good Home, Better Living’, the four-day event attracted real estate agencies, developers and companies that offer related services such as mortgages, insurance, furniture, fittings, fixtures and interior design.

Vantage positions

All the cubicles were occupied and arrangements were made to incorporate more exhibitors. Tents were set on the courtyard, which turned out to be a plus because of their vantage positions.

Opening the expo, the Minister for Nairobi Metropolitan Development Njeru Githae asked developers to focus on the lower end market and provide affordable housing for this category.

"Why concentrate on having one expensive property that will make a profit of Sh1,000,000 when you can have many low-cost houses that will make a profit of Sh100,000 each?" he posed.

Githae also challenged developers and financial institutions to provide housing to low-income earners who constitute Kenya’s majority. He pledged the Government would assist the public to acquire decent housing.

Currently, over seven million Kenyans live in slums and the number continues to increase.

Barclays Bank staff explain to visitors their mortgage services

Despite Government incentives including a tax break for developers going into this market, few have embraced it as they prefer the more lucrative high end segment.

Constructing homes for the low income earners is majorly a task for the Government and NGOs.

Media partners

Mentor Group Holdings (the gold sponsor), East Africa Portland Cement (the silver sponsor) and gift sponsors Multichoice, Pampa Churascaria, Ideal Ceramics, KenGlobal and Homes Kenya Magazine were the main sponsors of the expo.

Standard Media Group Limited and Capital FM were the media partners.

Daniel Ojijo, the executive chairman of Mentor Group, says the objective of the Kenya Homes Expo is to create awareness of real estate development by providing a meeting ground for the players to interact directly with prospective clients.

Timsales’ wooden house was erected at the expo

He says decent housing is a necessity but adds that current laws do not favour development of low-income housing.

Winners

"There is need to increase Government and private sector partnerships in order to enhance chances of achieving these objectives," Ojijo says.

At the close of the event, Tamarind Properties scooped the Real Estate Management award while S&L won the Home Finance award.

Madison Insurance emerged tops in the Health Insurance category while Mimosa Designs were declared the best in home interior and dÈcor.

The winner in the building category was Davis & Shirtliff. Multichoice was the Home Product winner while the Information and Communication award went to Homes Kenya Magazine, the expo organisers.a

 

Read all about: KICC

 

 

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