Every year Kenyans adopt new trends in the real estate sector as they keep up with technological advancements and move to save costs.
Equally, 2023 has its fair share of changes and trends in the real estate industry.
Here are some of the trends witnessed in 2023;
Introduction of Housing Levy
One of the notable changes witnessed in the country's real estate was the introduction of the 1.5 per cent Housing Levy.
The new provisions were included in the 2023 Finance Act and have seen employed Kenyans have a monthly deduction enforced by the government.
According to President William Ruto, the policy aims to ensure that there are enough affordable houses with the government targeting 200,000 units every year.
While the High Court ruled that the levy was unconstitutional, the government through Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wah has already proposed a bill to address the issues raised by the court.
One of the proposals included in the bill is to have those Kenyans in the informal sector also have 1.5 per cent of their monthly income put in the housing kitty.
Migration of Tycoons
During the year, several tycoons opted to leave the traditional posh estates to go and settle in new estates.
According to HassConsult reports for 2023, the movements were mostly seen from Kileleshwa and Karen.
For the two estates, the tycoons are moving to other areas such as satellite towns as they search for more privacy and come to terms with the high cost of living.
In other instances, the development of flats in the posh estates has scared off the rich who fear that the emergence of developments will affect their land value and also affect their privacy.
Consequently, the tycoons prefer to move to estates like Langata and Westlands.
Movements to satellite towns such as Ngong, Syokimau and Limuru are also on the rise.
Auctions
With the harsh economic times hitting all Kenyans across the board, many Kenyans lost their homes as they were unable to service their loans from the banks and other financial institutions.
The auctions were witnessed in both posh estates and satellite towns.
Also witnessed were the auctions of commercial buildings such as rentals being put up on auction.
“Higher interest rates impacting market liquidity negatively affected demand for own-to-occupy real estate during the quarter, largely constituted of detached and semi-detached homes.
“Banks are also exercising stringent lending, mitigating the risk of loan defaults in a tightening economy that is characterised by inflation and higher taxation,” HassConsult explained in the 2013 Q3 report.
Designs
Some of the designs that were increasingly being adopted by Kenyans include the A-frame houses which save on costs.
Unlike predominant designs, new technology such as A-frames is reported to save costs and take a short period to be completed.
Additionally, people are adopting new construction materials such as the expanded Polystyrene (EPS) technology. Interest in such technology is occasioned by the hike in the prices of construction materials.
