Property prices around mid-level college and university campuses are set to rise with growing student numbers.
Property prices around mid-level college and university campuses are set to rise as more educational institutions seek accommodation for their students in privately constructed hostels.
Kenyatta University has became the latest institution to seek extra accommodation for its students in its main Thika Road, Ruiru and parklands campuses from private developers.
The engagement of the real estate developers to build hostels around the Ruiru campus has seen land prices around it rise five-fold over a period of four years.
“The university is requesting interested landlords who may be willing to rent out their premises to students to contact the university immediately. The accommodation arrangements will be between the students, parents and the landlords,” said the university in a statement Wednesday.
The university will assess and accredit suitable accommodation for student use, recommending the same to parents and students.
As entrepreneurs have moved in to take advantage of the situation property holders in otherwise rural areas have benefited from land price surge.
“Four years ago, a 40 by 80 feet plot was going for Sh400,000, but now you need approximately Sh3 million for the same,” said Mr Crispus Kinene, proprietor of Unihomes Hostels in Ruiru, which currently has facilities to accommodate 200 people and is putting up a four storey building to create room for 500 more.
Partnering
“Most of the people are putting up hostels. We usually compare with rentals and though renting is a good business the occupation rate varies as Ruiru is far from Nairobi,” he added.
Other institutions of learning have taken up the same strategy of partnering with local investors to offer accommodation so as to ease the pressure on their budgets.
Land prices have also surged in Athi River where more than four private universities have already identified sites for the development of their premises.
Ms Bahati Wahenya, a director at Ndatani Enterprises, one of the firms selling land in the Athi River area says that there is an overwhelming demand for land around the proposed institutions that has doubled prices in one year as investors seek to build student accommodation facilities.
Land around Maseno University which has risen from Sh150,000 three years ago to Sh400,000 with the same scenario being replicated around Moi University main campus and Egerton University Njoro campus.
“By having such partnerships institutions are able to put funds in their core functions of research and academic development,” said Mr David Muturi executive chairman of Kenya Institute of Management.Campus administrators have taken it upon themselves to accredit facilities providers so as to agree on the code of conduct reassuring parents of the student wellbeing.
Some campuses like Maseno have opted to be the collection point of the rent passing it on to the landlords but even in cases where the landlord has to deal with the student directly, proprietors say debt collection is not an issue as the student has to make a single payment for the whole semester.
The facilities, however, have to work had to ensure they retain the students who use their facilities after a study session. Currently the university has 12 approved providers in Kahawa Sukari, 28 in Ruiru and 11 in Parklands.
“The university wishes to inform continuing students who had applied for rooms to check for the results in the university website. Those who were not successful should contact the off campus hostel providers,” said the university in a statement Wednesday.
Off campus students have to pay for accommodation at market-determined rates of between Sh7,000 and Sh10,000 per month depending on the number sharing a room but players in the market say this could be reviewed upwards due to market forces while students staying within the campus pay an average of Sh2,800 for their rooms.
