Nairobi City has the highest proportion of families living in inherited houses

Nairobi has the highest proportion of households living in inherited houses, new data shows, indicating the housing pressure on families in the city.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) survey shows that 28.9 per cent of respondents in the capital reported that they acquired their dwellings from kin.

Other counties that reported high levels of dwelling in inherited houses were Turkana (16.7 per cent), Lamu (9.5 per cent), Kiambu (7.7 per cent) and Mombasa (6.6 per cent).

Nationally, an average 2.8 per cent of households live in inherited houses with the trend more prevalent in urban areas at 6.5 per cent.

The KNBS data showed that at the national level, majority (88.6 per cent) of dwellings occupied by their owners are constructed by the households themselves.

“The results show that five per cent of owner-occupied dwellings were purchased, 2.8 per cent were inherited and 2.3 per cent were received as gifts.

The findings further show that 90.4 per cent of rural and 91.0 per cent of urban households constructed their dwelling units,” the agency said.

Loan acquisition
Overall, acquisition of houses by cash at 2.6 per cent in rural areas and 5.1 per cent in urban centre was more prevalent than through loans.

On the other hand, 0.7 per cent of households living in their own houses in rural areas and 2 per cent in urban areas purchased their units through loans.

“Analysis across the counties show that majority of owner- occupier households constructed their dwellings,” the KNBS said.

The data showed Wajir had the highest (39.4 per cent) proportion of households residing in houses that were purchased.

Nearly six in every 10 households owned the houses they lived in while slightly more than a third resided in rented or leased units.

Over 85 per cent of households in rural areas and 26.1 per cent in urban areas were residing in their own dwellings.

The results show that about seven in every 10 households in urban areas lived in rented dwellings compared to about one in every 10 households in rural areas.

A high proportion of households in Nairobi City (86.4 per cent) and Mombasa (82.2 per cent) lived in rented dwellings.

Other counties that had high proportions of households renting or leasing dwellings were Kajiado (59.5 per cent), Kiambu (51.6 per cent), Nakuru (46.3 per cent), Uasin Gishu (44 per cent) and Kisumu (42.2 per cent).

One-roomed dwellings
Nationally, 40 per cent of the households lived in one-roomed dwelling units while 26.6 per cent and 20.6 per cent resided in two-roomed and three-roomed dwellings, respectively.

A similar scenario was observed in the 2005/06 Kenya Integrated Housing Budget Survey (KIHBS) where 35.1 per cent of households resided in one-roomed, 27.6 per cent in two-roomed and 22.4 per cent in three-roomed dwelling units.

More than half of the households in urban areas lived in one-roomed units compared to 27.6 per cent of their counterparts in rural areas.

Further, 31.3 per cent and 26.2 per cent of the rural households occupied two-roomed and three-roomed units, respectively, compared to 20.5 per cent and 13.4 per cent of their counterparts in urban areas.

At county level, more than two-thirds of households in Mandera, Marsabit, Mombasa and Nairobi City resided in one-roomed units while over half of those in Homa Bay lived in two-roomed houses.

Counties that recorded high proportions of households living in three-roomed units were; Kirinyaga (43.2 per cent), Murang’a (50.2 per cent) and Kisii (50.7 per cent).

Bungalow preferred
Bungalow was the most preferred dwelling type (55.4 per cent), followed by the landhi (15.9 per cent), flat (9.3 per cent), manyatta or traditional house (8.4 per cent), and Swahili (7.9 per cent).

The survey results show that the proportion of households with maisonette type of dwelling was 0.9 per cent.

Flats were more common in urban areas than in rural centres. One out of every five households in urban areas were residing in flats compared to the negligible proportion recorded among households in rural areas.

The most common type of dwelling in rural areas was bungalow (75.5 per cent) while in urban areas it was the landhi and bungalow, each at 29.2 per cent.

Analysis across counties shows that the proportion of households living in flats was highest in Nairobi City at 46.3 per cent followed by Kajiado at 20.1 per cent.

Swahili type of dwelling was preferred by most households in Mombasa. The landhi type was common among households in Nakuru (46.1 per cent), Uasin Gishu (39.1 per cent), Nairobi City (36.9 per cent) and Kisumu (32 per cent)