The Kenya USA Diaspora SACCO was officially launched last evening at the ongoing 2012 Kenya Diaspora Conference - USA in Arlington, Virginia.This is the second Diaspora SACCO established after the Co-operative Development ministry registered Kenya Diaspora SACCO in April this year. Kenya Diaspora SACCO is the first Sacco for Kenyans in the Diaspora.

Speaking at the launch of Kenya USA Diaspora SACCO, Chairman Frank Kioko, said the SACCO will enable Kenyans living in the United States to have access to capital and fully participate in emerging markets in Kenya as well as the re-configured East African community.

According to Mwakilishi.com, a Kenyans in diaspora website the SACCO is registered by Kenya's Ministry of Cooperative Development and Marketing and plans to launch a chapter in every state in the US to make sure every Kenyan living in the US has access to a more promising and affordable credit for development in Kenya at low interest rates.

As reported by the Central Bank, Diaspora remittances this year are growing at a rate of 43% compared to last year and out of these only less than 50% go to capital investments. The SACCO intends to harness these individual small streams of remittances into a might river of collective opportunity and target them into real investment projects which we believe will attract even higher remittances.

Investment in Real Estate

The diaspora SACCOs have started showing signs of being major players in the investment industries in the the country. According to The Mortgage Company Director Caroline Kariuki, the shifts in mortgage rates of the last year (due to interest rate changes) has led to the acceleration in the development of the alternative mortgage market, expanding the funds coming into mortgage finance and the options available to Kenyans.

"Notable is the way the Diaspora is now becoming organized with the set up of SACCOs in a trend that could see them become very significant players in the mortgage and property sectors." Kariuki said at the release of Hass Property Index.

Mortgage rates down

Kariuki revealed that the average mortgage interest rate in Kenya is now 19%, down from an average of 22.5% three months ago.The most expensive mortgages are now being offered at rates below the previous average, with the topmost rate being 22% from Chase Bank and National Bank, while Barclays Kenya set a new low rate in the mainstream mortgage market of 15.5%.