Are you ready for the worst housing deficit the country has seen since 2008? Well, according to Housing Permanent Secretary Tirop Kosgey and a report from a government-sponsored survey, the housing deficit currently stands at 550,000 units, which is almost 4 times more than 2008 when the deficit stood at 150,000 units (according to a report from ISOCARP and the Ministry of Planning). Meanwhile, Britam, one of the country’s largest insurance companies, notes that, between 2011 and 2012, the demand for housing was at 200,000 units while the market could only provide 30,000.

Speaking during a Housing forum last week, Kosgey noted that Kenyans were living in overcrowded facilities due to an increasing lack of affordable housing.

Blame it on Commercial Banks

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA), which was responsible for organizing the event, mentioned that real estate developers often blame commercial banks for high mortgage rates but their new initiative would help provide them with long term funding in order to curb this phenomenon. A report from Hass Consult even backed the statement, saying that insufficient funding was to blame for stalled development projects in some parts of the city.

The Hass Property Index further states that the average mortgage rate fell to 19% from 22.5% during 2012’s second quarter. Since then some banks have decided to lower their lending rates with I&M holding the most affordable commercial rate so far.

And according to Nairobi Governor aspirant (and one of Britam's Non-executive Directors), Jimnah Mbaru, Nairobi alone, requires almost KES 50 billion to build affordable homes for low-income earners.

Now the Authority, with help from public and private sector stakeholders, plans to roll out Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITS), which will make it possible for members of the public to invest in real estate development by pooling in fund schemes which will be managed by a set of industry professionals.

While the preliminary government survey states that the housing deficit has more than doubled over the past three years, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has announced that it will unveil the official numbers within the next 3 months.