INCREASED politicking could slow down the property market which has been resilient through multiple economic challenges, a director of a land buying firm has cautioned.
Land Layby director Phyllis Gathura has said the property and housing market could soften in the run up to the general election next year, as prospective buyers adopt a wait-and-see attitude as they assess the country’s political temperature.
Speaking last Friday at the company offices in Nairobi, Gathura said several property agents are concerned that ongoing ethnic rhetoric by politicians may make clients apprehensive about purchasing land or houses.
Gatura was speaking during an event to award optional certificates to company clients who have bought land in different parts of the country.
“We are worried about the political campaign and atmosphere which may slow the market but we hope everything will be ok,” she said.
Kenya’s property market has weathered many challenges including insecurity, weakening of the shilling which depreciated by 13 per cent last year and higher bank interest rates.
While the market has been resilient, events similar to those that preceded the 2007 general elections when post-poll ethnic violence broke out, maycreate anxiety in the market towards end of the year, Gathura warned.
Land Layby Kenya helps clients buy land at a fixed price and defined future date.
The buyer hence pays a fee to compel the seller not only to hold the parcel of land for them but also to lock the purchase price.
The company specialises in land banking where it usually buys land in the outskirts of a big city (land in the pathway of development) and waiting “passively or actively” until residential developers make it appreciate in value.
The land banking option is a revolutionary product that enables buyers to control a block of land without any holding costs, no interest repayments or borrowing.
