In the early 1990s, civil servants and other salaried staff who lived in Kilifi had to go to Mombasa every month end to get their salary. This was because the town, then at its infant stage, did not have financial institutions.

The Kenya Commercial Bank had a mobile unit that occasionally visited the town. Barclays Bank was the first to set up a permanent structure that has since become a landmark in the town. Other banks followed suit.

But things did not go well for most of the banks. After experiencing difficulties in accessing loans and stringent account procedures, teachers from the entire district formed the Kilifi Teachers Sacco (Kiteco).

This meant teachers relied less on the banks for financial support. The front desk of the Sacco eventually grew into a financial institution that, at the moment, is the heartbeat of the town that nearly collapsed at one time.

cashew nut factory

Located at Kilifi Creek on the Mombasa-Malindi Highway, the town was known for a vibrant cashew nut factory in the 1980s and 1990s, milk plantations owned by the Wilson family and good beaches and tourist hotels.

With housing constructed primarily for thousands of workers that were employed at the cashew nut factory, real estate took a tumble after the factory collapsed in the mid 1990s and thousands left for greener pastures.

Kilifi underwent a major rebirth in the late 1990s and early 2000s that was necessitated by an influx of professionals working at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.

“The professionals were some of the first people to venture into real estate as most were being paid well,” says John Malala, a resident.

Landowners, who included powerful figures like John Keen and the Mazrui family, saw the opportunity and sold land to investors.

“The land bought was primarily for putting up private homes and commercial buildings. By then, land was cheap,” he adds.

As recently as 2001, land just outside the town was going for Sh20,000 to Sh50,000 per acre, still a high figure for locals who were mostly farmers. Today, you need Sh150,000 to buy an acre of land, with beach plots, which are in plenty, fetching millions.

With time, the real estate boom took off with civil servants and teachers jumping on the bandwagon, using loans and business plans from Kiteco (which was now open to non-teachers).

Need for affordable housing

“Kilifi being a central point for North Coast, there was a need for affordable housing, new and modern business buildings and good infrastructure. With Kiteco, everything fell in place,” says Malala.

With the town centre already crowded, land around the town was in demand. Areas like Bofa, Kwa Mwango, Mnarani, Power, Site and Service and Kibarani became lucrative for people intending to build family houses and rental houses. With readily available building materials like masonry stones from the nearby Tezo quarries and building sand from pits in Mdzongolini, other investors spent money on buying lorries and pick-ups.

“I supervise three or four new buildings every month,” says Saidi Katana, a mason.

He adds: “The building season, from August to late March, is lucrative and I am forced to outsource builders because work becomes overwhelming.”

Varsity factor

Katana explains that unlike before when masons would jostle for jobs, Kilifi has become the gold mine, with the town having as many construction sites as there are builders.

Another factor in the booming real estate business in Kilifi is Pwani University. The institution, formerly known as Kilifi Institute of Agriculture, was awarded a charter by former President Kibaki early this year.

For the 25 years it operated as an institute, the institution could house all the students within its perimeters.

But when it gained a university status in 2007 as a constituent college of Kenyatta University, enrolment figures started to outnumber the housing facilities.

Bedsitters and one-bedroom houses outside the campus became popular with the students, estimated to be about 3,000.

“People who had rental houses benefited from the student-induced boom,” says Daniel Kenga,  a Pwani University graduate and local entrepreneur.

He says that from 2007, many modern buildings have been replacing old dilapidated structures.

“New housing units are also coming up all over the place. Every business in this town is geared towards reaping from the student influx,” he says.

Some of the buildings demolished were those that had been put up in the traditional Swahili structure, giving way to  more modern structures to accommodate the changing socio-cultural landscape.

Rental prices

The rents for a bedsitter in the town ranges from Sh2,500 to Sh8,500 per month, depending on the locality, owner’s preference and size of the rooms.

A one-bedroom house fetches between Sh4,000 and Sh12,000 in monthly rents. However, with Sh8,500, one can get a two-bedroom house in some areas, with those in the leafy Greenstead Estate paying up to Sh18,000 per month.

“Housing is readily available in Kilifi. There are housing units coming up in readiness for more university intake and all the business opportunities that will come with the expected economic boom,” adds Kenga.

Business premises are still enjoying affordable rates in the town with a ten by 20 feet space going operation, which has Mtwapa and Malindi town to expand to. As for real estate, the investors are already reaping from the booming sector.