Why Kenyans are turning to ‘mitumba’ houses

The country’s resale market is becoming an important source of housing supply, with about 60 per cent of Kenya’s total mortgage accounts belonging to people who bought secondhand homes, writes LYDIA LIMBE

“When I first came to Nairobi a few years ago,” says Shailender Singh, “the maisonette next to my house on Lenana Road was worth Sh14 million. The same house is now Sh45 million.” Singh, the director of food and beverage operations at a major hotel chain in the country, says he cannot afford to buy a house in the Lenana Road area in Nairobi.