Austrian start-up in Kenya with precast housing tech

Austrian start-up Neulandt has introduced its portable precast plant for building affordable housing in Kenya as it eyes the low-cost housing pie.

Managing director Marco Romahn said it would supply the technology and infrastructure for interested firms, eyeing to construct affordable housing under the alternative building technology.

He said the plant would reduce the construction costs with the model house priced at Sh26,000 per square metre, explaining a plant could build up to 1,000 single-storey or multi-storey houses per year.

“We are here to stay and ready to support Kenya in its plan of being the lighthouse of East Africa when it comes to transforming the building construction industry,” he said in a statement.

Housing Principal Secretary Charles Hinga urged real estate players to embrace cheaper building technologies used abroad to allow more people to own homes.

He said such technologies would enable the government to achieve the affordable housing goal, which is one of the four pillars under President Uhuru Kenyatta’s flagship Big Four agenda.

The affordable housing space is increasingly attractive as one of the few growth areas in the sector, given that it has the biggest supply deficit.

200,000 HOMES

Under the affordable housing plans, the government in partnership with the private sector aims to construct 200,000 homes annually.

Although the real estate sector has underperformed in the last two years, it retains an allure for investors due to Kenya’s housing deficit that increases at 250,000 units a year with the private sector able to deliver about 30,000 units a year.