Apartments in high demand as land prices shoot up

Plots located along the Eastern Bypass that runs from Mombasa Road through Njiru to Thika Road used to sell at an average price of Sh250, 000, but since the road construction they are now going for between Sh1 million to 8 million.

“People like serviced land… this is land with sewer connections, police station, hospitals near them, electric line, tarmac road...” says Mr Mutisya.
The experts are in agreement that the cost of land makes the cost of stand -alone houses expensive.

“You have to factor in the price of land when selling and this makes the price of the stand-alones to be so high,” says Mr Ochieng.

Also, according to Mr Ochieng, apartments assist people in pooling together resources and make it easier to access basic amenities.

“People feel safer in apartments; they can hire security easily and it is not easy to be targeted,” he notes.

Mr Ochieng says the rent for the stand- alones has grown outside the scope of most people hence the preference for apartments. He notes that apartments will continue to dominate the market even more in future, due to economic factors.

“There is high demand for accommodation. More people are migrating to towns, land is scarce and you will continue to see more sky scrapers around,” he adds.

“The interest is very high and the less you borrow the better. People will naturally borrow less hence they will buy what they can afford… and that is apartments,” he says.

“The fact that one can actually buy and get title to an apartment makes it more favourable now,” concludes Mutisya.
gfayo@ke.nationmedia.co.ke