High interest rates to hurt Kenya’s real estate investment, experts warn

HassConsult Research and Marketing Manager Sakina Hassanali addresses the Press during the presentation of the Hass Price and Land Indices for Q2 2015.

NAIROBI: The move by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) to increase cost of credit is likely to affect both developers and buyers of property, especially those in the low-cost housing segment.

This is according to HassConsult, a real estate firm, which has expressed caution in awaiting the overall effect of the recent decision to implement two increases in recent weeks of the Central Bank Rate (CBR), amounting to 11.5 per cent. These recent increases, which occurred in June and this month, are the first seen in nearly four years.