Who doesn't want to live in a luxury apartment? Or maybe a five bedroom maisonette with a swimming pool and an indoor gym? Given the chance, most people would trade the lives they have now for one of opulent luxury.

What is it about a life of indulgence in a piece of property with a five-star rating? Maybe it’s the sense of prestige. It could be for the sake of a higher social status.  Whatever the case, the fact remains that the common man cannot afford to live this life. Coupled with rising real estate prices and greedy agents, owning a house could be nothing more than a pipe dream.

[caption id="attachment_26582" align="alignright" width="300"] Image source: hamusoku.com[/caption]

Bending the Truth

Whenever a house is up for sale, real estate agents try their best to make it look better than it actually is. After all, It’s their job to sell property, even if it is at the expense of the buyer.

Some real estate agents have developed a system of marketing where they play with words to make their products seem more appealing. From withholding information to applying semantics, these con-artists have found ways to trick the common man into settling for less than they expect.

If you read any synopsis about a piece of property from the seller’s point of view, you may find that information to be quite misleading. Imagine an article about a two-bedroom bungalow in a residential urban area. This is how the real estate agent would describe it:

“Affordable, spacious three-bedroom house for sale. This beautiful piece of property stands on a quarter of an acre of land. It is located next to a supermarket so you don’t have to travel long distances to do your shopping.”

This is what the property would actually look like:

[caption id="attachment_26587" align="alignleft" width="300"] A Dilapidated House[/caption]

“Expensive, dilapidated three-bedroom house for sale. This dilapidated structure stands on less than a quarter of an acre of mismanaged land. It is located next to an open sewer pipe. The City Council has ignored complaints from local residents about the foul odour.”

“Affordable”

Just what do they mean by “affordable”? A lot of people keep throwing that word around like it means something. Take a look at some of the apartments located in the leafy suburbs of some urban areas across the country. None of those housing units is even remotely affordable.

If half the able-bodied population have no jobs, then that means that 50% of consumers can barely afford any house on the market.  The jobless few that have their own property are actually living on land that was passed down from generation to generation. Without inheritance, some people would actually be homeless.

The ones that don’t have homes are either living with friends in the city or relatives in the rural areas. Those that have neither could be slum dwellers or homeless wanderers.

So what defines affordability? Well, there seems to be a luxury housing market boom with 30,000 units built every year. However, only 10,000 people from the upper middle class (and beyond) can actually afford to live in these units. If you weigh that against an annual demand for 200,000 units, it means that 190,000 people cannot afford any of these new houses.

Battle of the Social Classes

To make matters worse, real estate developers like Lé Mac are targeting the big fish while tens of thousands of little fish slip through their nets. They are putting up a mixed-use residential complex that will cost about KES 3.5 billion to construct.

[caption id="attachment_22353" align="alignright" width="300"] Lé Mac[/caption]

The developer says that Kenyans will have access to half of the 170 apartments available in the complex. The developers intend to keep the rest for their own commercial purposes. According to the Kenya Home’s Guide, one bedroom units will sell for between KES 14.4 million and KES 15.5 million, depending on the floor plans. Rent will cost no less than KES 150,000 per month. Some people don’t even make that much money in a year.

Other investors like Centum have also jumped on the bandwagon but only the social elite will ever make it into their 5-star residential units.

What is considered a basic need for one man could be a luxury for another. This is why other developers like Ujenzi Bora have given the common man a fighting chance. The housing company is currently working on a low-cost housing project that aims to bridge the gap between those who can afford decent structures and those who can’t.

These 70 square feet units, will cost anywhere between KES 1 million or KES 3 million. Ujenzi Bora’s architects are currently working on 5 different housing designs.

If someone could just come up with more houses like these (some of them even cheaper), at least some people could get the basic needs they deserve.