Cytonn report maps most expensive estates

Kenyans looking to buy homes in Nairobi’s upmarket areas need to earn at least Sh3.1 million a month to afford a mortgage.

According to a Cytonn report on mortgage and rent affordability in Nairobi metropolitan, the city’s most expensive houses are in Nyari, Karen, Runda, Muthaiga and Kitusuri.

Githurai was listed as the most affordable market, where homes can be purchased through mortgages by households with a median monthly income of between Sh25,000 and Sh50,000.

Households on this pay scale can also afford rent in Embakasi, Komarock and Kariobangi.

However, the report found those living in the upper middle income areas of Ridgeways, Riverside and Rosslyn tend to spend more than a third of their income on rent. The most unaffordable rental markets in Nairobi are Nyari and Rosslyn, where a household needs to be earning more than Sh1 million.

The report assumes a household would spend not more than 30 per cent of its income on rent and not more than 40 per cent on a mortgage.

Kenya’s real estate market remains a rental rather than a mortgage market. This, the report says, is due to country’s high interest rates, which have dampened the uptake of mortgages.

Although the demand for residential houses has outstripped supply, a disproportionate number of Kenyans remain outside the mortgage bracket.