Price indices for the housing units in the country have kept going down due to the uncertainty in the economy throwing real estate into a crisis.
According to a report released by HassConsult which was released on Tuesday for the third quarter of 2019 indicated that high demand for low middle-income housing in far-flung Nairobi’s metropolis is surging as tenants opt for cheaper units.
“Asking rents for a modern apartment may cost as little as Sh23,400 and this bodes well for many tenants who are now preferring affordable units as they take caution to save in the wake of job losses across all sectors. Notably, as the cost of living soars, the lower middle class is opting to pay slightly more in transport but less in rents,” said Ms. Sakina Hassanali, Head of Research and Marketing at HassConsult.
Kiserian recorded the highest drop over the quarter with rents in the area reducing by 4.6 per cent while Athi River recorded the lowest annual growth rate for houses at 4.1 per cent.
Parklands was the best performing suburb with rents in the area increasing by 1.9 percent over the quarter and 9.3 per cent annually.
On the losing end Loresho recorded a 2.7 per cent drop over the quarter and 3.5 percent over the year. Overall asking rents dropped by 0.9 per cent over the quarter but marginally increased by 0.8 per cent on an annual basis.
On the sales front asking prices marginally rose by 0.9 per cent in the quarter led by the semi-detached housing segment which increased by 3.4 per cent over the period. Ridgeways recorded the highest quarterly increase in asking prices at 3.9 per cent over the quarter while Juja recorded the biggest drop at -7.8 percent.
