Kenya Homes Expo gets bigger and better

By Ferdinand Mwongela

The Kenya Homes Expo has grown tremendously since its inception. Six years ago, Kenya and East Africa in general had no exhibition dedicated to property and the real estate sector.

Today, however, property exhibitions have become part and parcel of the calendar, with many homeowners and investors making a date with the exhibitions around the country. Currently there are seven property specific exhibitions held annually — four in Nairobi, two in Mombasa and one in Kisumu.

Starting today up to Sunday April 25, the biannual Kenya Homes expo will hold its first expo this year and its 11th edition. The event is organised and hosted by Homes Kenya magazine, a trendy bi-monthly publication. The expo has been growing fast and is one of the biggest in the country, jostling for the top spot with another biannual expo, the Property and Home Living Expo. So successful was the event that the organisers changed its venue from Sarit Centre in 2005 to KICC to accommodate the expanding number of exhibitors and visitors.

The organisers led by Homes Kenya editor Carole Muchendu say the expo has been growing steadily and this time round they expect an even bigger number of exhibitors joining the expo’s bandwagon.

"We expect to have the best expo ever," says Carole Muchendu confidently, adding that the standards of the expo will remain high with the coming on of new exhibitors, a proof that property expos are being embraced across the board.

"While we have maintained many of our previous and return clients, we have a big number of new exhibitors, a proof that indeed the expo is a necessary and useful forum for all relevant stakeholders in the market. At the same time, it affirms the fact that our expo is getting bigger and better," she says.

Muchendu notes that many have come to understand the significance and relevance of homes expos hence the current popularity in the industry.

Homes shopping mall

"When we began our expo five years ago, the concept of home expos was pretty much at infancy and few understood our rationale. But over the years, after a series of successful events, Kenyans began to see the significance and relevance of the expos," she says.

According to the organisers, the increasing number of homes expos is encouraging. Muchendu adds that this expo is "basically a homes shopping mall, an entire market place that gives visitors a chance to acquire all that they need for their homes".

As such, it forms a bridge between the seller and the buyer bringing them all under one roof. It saves the buyer the hassles of moving around different offices and companies and at the same time giving exhibitors a forum to establish networks and expand their client base.

"For exhibitors, this expo is an opportunity to make money, to meet new clients, to showcase their products and to meet the right people looking for specific products and services," she says. In so doing, she adds, the expo provides a level playing field for all stakeholders, enabling them to interact on a one to one basis.

This edition of the expo expects about 90 exhibitors. The last Kenya Homes expo held in October 2009 attracted 80 exhibitors and had over 15,000 visitors.

George Laboso, the sales and marketing manager for Kenya Commercial Bank’s mortgage division S&L, says this time they will be exhibiting among their other mortgage products, pension backed mortgage plan that was launched last year. He said while the interest for the product was there, it is still a little slow on the uptake.

"We expect this will pick up," he says.

Daniel Ojijo, the executive chairman of Mentor Holdings, expo sponsors and Homes Kenya magazine parent company, says the expo is getting bigger and bigger.

"It is a significant platform for networking," he says on the popularity of property expos that have grown to encompass a variety of sectors related to the property industry with service providers also playing a big role. According to Ojijo, the sector is getting better every day due to its positioning in the local economy and good returns.

"Real estate is one of the best performing sectors," notes Ojijo, pointing out that several factors have played a role in the prominence of the property segment of the economy.

He says the increased ease of financing is one huge factor that has made the purchase of houses easier. Banking institutions have over the last few years broadened their lending to the sector, with several banks being represented in property expos. Over the last year alone, mortgage providers have come up with innovative products to the clients while more players, like the Co-operative Bank launched their Good Home mortgage property. At the same time, one of Kenya’s leading mortgage institutions, S&L, merged with its parent company, the Kenya Commercial Bank in an effort to re-strategise and increase their ability to lend more bolstered by the bank’s wide branch network and bigger financial base.

Ojijo says this edition of the Kenya Homes expo will be unique, as it will feature a lot of developments targeting the middle and low-cost housing clients. The expo will also feature a seminar on the first day and entertainment sessions.

The expo comes at a time when a property index released last week by Hass Consult showed how rental yields for high end properties were falling compared to the rise in property prices in this segment, making buying properties for rental purposes a tricky affair. Ojijo agrees with this assessment saying a house going for Sh20 million might rent out for Sh100,000 a month. So recouping one’s investment might take long.

Exhibitors

He, however, adds that even the rental prices have also gone up albeit not as fast.

"A house renting at Sh30,000 five years ago can now go for Sh80,000," he says.

While the list of the expected exhibitors show a large number of property development companies, others like banks and service providers have a strong showing with Barclays Bank, S&L, Housing Finance, Consolidated Bank, among the banks present. Others include furniture companies, interior decorators and insurance companies.