Insecurity, high cost of land push property firms to ‘city villages’

When Joseph Wangai decided to buy a house in early 2000, he was not in a hurry to settle.

Perhaps guided by the saying, ‘Once bitten, twice shy,’ he need a secure environment for his family.

His home had been broken into twice. So, he had to look before leaping.

After scouting within the Nairobi suburbs and peri-urban areas, Mr Wangai and his family settled for a house in a communal estate along Mlolongo Road, to the east of the city.

The scheme, which had 200 houses, provided the secure environment he needed as it was a gated community that had people living next to each other and controlled entry — by invitation-only admission, one might say — that his old estate did not provide.

The shift from individual houses standing on private property to communal estates where homes are separated by a fence is gaining ground in Nairobi.

Property developers see the preference for gated community as a response to the state of insecurity and the rising cost of putting up a property.

“The previous state of insecurity have driven people to prefer living together, which is a return to the olden days when people lived in villages for security,” Mr Festus Litiku, the vice-chairman of the Architectural Association of Kenya (AAK) says.

Developers have gone high-tech providing security gadgets like biometric readers and electronic cards to restrict access.

Besides enhanced state of security, real estate investors cite the preference for gated communities as a way of providing social amenities with ease and at cheaper rates.

Because of the economies of scale associated with construction of huge projects, the costs drop.

One of these gated designs is the planned Thika Greens, which will have a state-of-the-art golf course, waterways and open landscape. It will be built on an 800-acre land.

“The Thika Greens epitomises the changing philosophy of housing development as it provides high-class amenities, ensuring defined lifestyles that truly allow home-owners to access sporting gardens, fibre optic infrastructure and state-of-the-art shopping malls,” says Mr Robert Bunyi, the project advisor.

Other developers provide additional amenities such as solar water-heating kits, paved roads, street lighting, and sewerage services.

“By putting up such housing projects, the developers are able to have amenities such as power, water and roads provided by the local authorities, a situation that may be difficult for individual homes,” said Mr Joe Mungai, the chief executive officer of Tamarind Meadows.

Mr Mungai notes the development of such properties allows for value-addition, which further benefit the home buyers.

For instance, when they were developing the Tamarind Meadows near Mlolongo, a bustling peri-urban shopping centre to the east of Nairobi, the company realised water was a major concern.

To lower the overall water bills and ensure availability, they installed a water recycling treatment plant and water-heating solar kits.

“We have developed houses that have solar panels for heating water and recycling to check wastage,” said Mr Mungai.

Innovative solutions

Unpredictable weather patterns have worsened shortage of water, making it a key consideration to any buyer.

Luckily, the developers are picking the cue, even if for them it is to drive sales and improve the bottom line.

“Developers are willing to provide additional services such as security, water services through bore holes, access roads and other auxiliary services which are seen as critical in the purchase of houses,” says Linet Oyugi, a policy analyst with Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (Ipar).

Given that such properties require large tracts of land, developers are relocating to the periphery of urban centres to buy land.

Here, they provide serviced plots for investors interested in coming up with own designs.

The decision by the National Housing Corporation (NHC), a government agency charged with providing affordable housing, to partner with Sahal Construction, a private property developer, to put up 4,500 housing units on a 72-acre land in Mavoko, signals the shift to huge housing plans.

The NHC-Sahal project is seen as the largest housing project in the country, so far.

Estimated to cost Sh12 billion, it will comprise two- and three-bedroom houses.

Analysts see the project helping in reducing home prices at a time rates have been going through the roof, pushed by the increasing cost of materials and the increasing urban population.

The units will be sold for between Sh2.75 million and Sh3.75 million, heralding the lowest market prices.

Similar units in upmarket zones in Nairobi’s Kileleshwa, Lang’ata and Lavington are estimated to cost more than Sh6 million

“This project, the single largest, is expected to trigger price changes with the potential of lowering the prices, which, as a government, we are pushing for to enhance house ownership,” said Soita Shitanda, the minister for Housing.

Mr Shitanda indicated that the huge supply gap, land speculative practices, a tedious procurement, and archaic building code are pushing up the cost of housing.

Official figures put demand at 150,000 yearly units whereas the market can only supply 30,000 units.

Additional space

Mr Litiku reckons that the increased construction of gated communities is allowing developers to provide other social amenities as schools, health services, and recreational facilities such as gyms which minimise costs.

According to Mr Dakane Ali, the managing director of Sahal Construction, the housing project will have a shopping centre, schools, a police post, and a medical centre.

It will have a solar system for warming water and street lighting.

Property developers are responding to the requirements and changing landscape of urban living to allow potential homeowners more than the house floor, the limiting environment characteristic of high-rise estates.

“The gated community concept allows home-owners to have additional space to their typical house-floor available in a high rise building, which only provide common open ground,” said Mr Litiku.

For along time, people valued privacy, hence the preference for ‘lonely’ homes, where residents were said to value not only pin-drop silence but exclusive serenity that define class, clout, and taste.

This is slowly changing thanks to the reality of a struggling economy marked by basic needs taste and rising insecurity.

Less turbulent access to the office and schools for children are also reducing the sheen of exclusivity.

Rising land prices have meant that potential buyers, more or less, pool resources together.

“Land prices within the urban areas have acquired a speculative drive, locking out many middle-income earners from buying such lands,” said Mr Shitanda.

Caged environment

In an effort to address these needs and challenges, property developers shifted to construction of high rising buildings.

Despite the popularity of flats, developers indicate that the perception that one is living in a caged environment created the desire for owning a house and having additional space.

“The typical flats provide a secure environment but do not come with additional space that one may require for other activities such as gardening,” says Mr Litiku.

The downside of the gated community is expected higher cost of construction due to the provision of additional services and the challenges of managing the property.

Mr Mungai, however, says the unit cost is much lower as developers enjoy economies of scale.

“The final prices for the houses have factored in the additional cost for the provision of these services but due to the numbers of units under construction, the unit cost is much lower.”

“We have in place a management entity that will ensure the standards are maintained to preserve the value of the property,” says Mr Bunyi.

As for Tamarind Meadows, Mr Mungai says there is a management company owned by the residents “to ensure that all shared facilities are maintained properly.”

This is critical as unplanned development leads to devaluation of properties, creating what Mr Bunyi calls “high-class slums.”

A case in point is the rapid changing face of BuruBuru, a middle-class estate.

The estate which was developed through a controlled scheme has changed shape and image with homeowners putting up additional units for more income.

However, the uncontrolled redesign has led to the loss of Buru Buru’s beauty and value, meaning developers wait longer to recoup investments.