I have been house hunting lately, for a 2-3 bedroom apartment in Nairobi. My search was mostly focused in areas around my work place, and with a certain budget in mind.
I have come across many decent apartments, very many. During my search I noticed that most of the vacant units were in the upmarket areas – Westlands, Kileleshwa, Hurlingham, Kilimani..just to mention a few.
I decided to dig a bit deeper, to understand why exactly this was the trend. My analysis yielded interesting results.
In one search, of 13,164 vacant properties available for rent, 73% were in upmarket areas of Westlands, Lavington, Kilimani, Kileleshwa, Runda and Karen. See the below breakdown:
| Westlands | 2,955 | ||
| Lavington | 2,328 | ||
| Kilimani | 1,461 | ||
| Kileleshwa | 1,046 | ||
| Runda | 556 | ||
| Karen | 547 | ||
| Loresho | 324 | ||
| Hurlingham | 252 | ||
| Muthaiga | 247 | ||
| Parklands | 127 | ||
| Gigiri, | 60 | ||
| Kitisuru | 53 | 9956 | 73% |
| Rest of Nairobi | 3,658 | 3,658 | 27% |
| Total Nairobi rentals | 13,614 | 13,164 |
In the above search, the source does not differentiate between main houses and apartments. All the same, the findings can be summarised as below;
In a different search, I found that more than 65% of vacant rental apartments in Nairobi are in the aforementioned upmarket areas, with another 15% in areas around Langata, Nairobi south and west and Mombasa road area in general.
| Apartments available for rent in Nairobi | 1534 | ||
| Westlands | 244 | ||
| Kilimani | 216 | ||
| Lavington | 182 | ||
| Kileleshwa | 126 | ||
| Riverside, Brookside, Parklands (rest) | 233 | 1001 | 65% |
| Rest of Nairobi | 533 | 533 | 35% |
| Total rental apartments in Nairobi | 1534 | 1534 |
This particular source differentiates between main houses and apartments, giving us more accurate results for apartments.
Now, why do we have so many vacant rental apartments in these upmarket areas of Nairobi?
The average monthly rent for a 3 bedroom apartment is those areas is around Kshs 90,000/- and Kshs 70,000/- for a 2 bedroom.
Of the 1,534 rental apartments in Nairobi, 1,173 (76%) of them are going for 50k and more in terms of monthly rent. About 1,090 (71%) rental apartments are going for 70k and more in terms of monthly rent.
Not to mention the other highly priced rental apartments in those areas, charging a monthly rent of between 200k and 602k
Supply vs demand
In an ideal marketplace, the price for a good or a service is determined by the forces of supply and demand. In a competitive market, the price of a good will vary and settle at a point where the supply of that good equals the demand for it.
In Nairobi we are at a time when the supply of rental apartments outstrips the demand for them. Ideally the property owners could lower the rent they charge to attract more customers. This is however debatable, with so many other factors in play such as return on investments and market value of the property.
In another post, I will look at the value of apartments, in particular those available for purchase.
In the meantime have your say, why do we have so many vacant apartments in the upmarket areas?
Source: OLX and the Rocket Internet owned real estate marketplace, Lamudi.
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