Real Estate Moment: Expo II, Land Bills, Timeshares

US$1 is ~ Kshs 100
A second homes took place in Nairobi over the weekend, and this came less than six months after the first in April. It seems unusual to have two expos in one year, but here's a recap of some of the housing, appliance, banks, and other companies at the expo.

Banks: There were the usual mortgage providers there including Housing Finance (whose Treasure account comes with up to 50% discount at KWS parks and 10% at Jolly Roger, Village market, Gertrude hospital) who offer finance of up to 90% at a variable mortgage rate of 14% loan.

Other banks offering up to 90% included Standard Chartered and National Bank. NBK and Barclays both give loans of up to 20 years for individuals (NBK at 13%, BBK at 14%). A recent entrant in the mortgage sector is Family Bank who also launched m-kodi, which is a way for tenants & property owners to make and process rent payments by mobile phone. CBA and Family Bank also give mortgages of up to 25 years, and for Kenyans in the diaspora, Family will give mortgages of up to 15 years for 90% property finance.

Properties Nairobi - Le Mac was introduced at the earlier expo as a 24-storey tower complex with apartments, malls, shops, offices, bank, restaurant, gym on Waiyaki Way and Mark Properties are only selling studio apartments for Kshs. 12.7 million, 1 bedrooms for Kshs. 16 and 2 bedroom apartments for Kshs. 21M
- The gateway 3BR apartments in Kileleshwa for Kshs 14.9M starting in December 2011 with 20% offer, 80% on completion from Bluebell
- Long-standing properties that have featured at a few expo's include Jacaranda Gardens on Thika Road which have 2BR for Kshs 6.6M and 3BR for Kshs 7.6M and another at Phenom Estate IV in Langata (controversially located near Wilson airport), and Sidai Village with 3BR maisonettes costing Kshs 6.5M from Chigwell Holdings

Nairobi Outskirts- Athi View on Syokimau cost Kshs. 4.8 to 9.2M are just off Mombasa Rd. (by SJR Properties), Skyline Apts,which are 3BR off Airport North Rd that cost Kshs 5.8M, and Twiga Hills in Ongata Rongai which are 3BR apts. for Kshs 6M (also have 2BR ones). Also in Kitengela, there are 1/8 acre plots from Optiven that range from Kshs 0.5M (Silver gardens) to Kshs 0.98M (Imani gardens) with immediate financing from Equity Bank.

Coast: The Baobab Development Group has been pushing fractional ownership of an upcoming property in Malindi as luxury apartments at a 'affordable' cost of Kshs 2.5 million (time share properties are new in Kenya). Also Sunset Paradise apartments (700M from Serena Beach) are selling 2BR for Kshs. 7M ($80k), and the 3 BR and 4BR are in two sizes with the larger of each costing Kshs. 10.2M ($140k) and Kshs. 11.9M ($160k) respectively.

Gated properties: News ones included Iluluwe golf estate development in Athi River, now offering an 1/8 acre is Kshs 0.95M and 1/4 acre at Kshs 1.8M and Longonot Gate which will be at the foot of Mt. Longonot and now have 200 1/2 acre plots going for Kshs 3.5 million (later 4M). Buyers will also become members of a Kingdom golf club in the gated resort city at Longonot.

Interiors, Finishes, Appliances: There was also companies like Mabati for roofing choices, Flamingo for floor tiles Solaris for water heaters, Chloride Exide for solar water systems and power backups

Elsewhere: Knight Frank, at the expo or in the newspapers, had Windsor Green in the Mbuya suburb of Kampala for sale starting from $76,800 upwards and they and are also offering 7 acres near Wilson Airport, Nairobi for Kshs 100 million.

Land Ownership: The Government of Kenya's Ministry of Lands has published draft land bills for public discussion. Matters of interest include spousal rights, pastoralist rights, partitioning, appeals processes, use of land, and notes that the land registrar shall make information in the register accessible to the public by electronic means, among many other changes.