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Houses Replace Tea, Coffee in Kisii Town
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- Published on Friday, 19 August 2011 01:55
Kisii town's landscape is fast changing in the face of new housing developments. An agro-based economic zone once dotted with coffee, tea and banana plantations, the town is finally giving in to a rising population.
Land owners in areas adjacent to the town are quickly changing the land-use status from agricultural to commercial and residential as demand for space shoots up. Tea and coffee bushes are fast being uprooted and replaced with high-density residential houses and commercial buildings in the construction boom which has attracted property developers to the rural town in droves.
Most farmers have ditched the cash crops as returns dip due to decreasing productivity, middle men and low prices for the raw commodity in the market. Landlords say they prefer to reap from sale of plots and houses or rents where returns are higher, quick and almost guaranteed compared to farming whose returns are dwindling. Developers are guaranteed at least double-digit returns on sale of houses while space for letting, commercial and residential, is absorbed fast owing to the prevailing shortage.
The town is also strategically positioned to reap from the new county structures which are expected to inject impetus into rapid construction.
Increased activity in the town has seen more than 17 commercial banks and financial institutions open shop to harness growing opportunities. These include new entrants like EcoBank, Equity and K-Rep to those that have been here longer such as KCB, Barclay's, National Bank and Co-operative Bank.
The 2009 Kenya Population Census report shows population within the Kisii Municipality has jumped three-fold in the last decade, primarily owing to increased rural-urban migration.
Property and real estate dealers in the town say the upsurge in population has boosted appetite for property in a large way. "At first it was demand for commercial space but with that, people who work in those commercial properties such as banks and other institutions need accommodation hence the massive developments," says Robin Omwega, the director Homes Exodus and Logistic Resource Centre in Kisii.
Omwega adds that the quick returns have also played role in the property development craze. An eighth of an acre in town can attract between Sh8 million and Sh15 million, he says, while rent for a two bedroom house is between Sh10,000 to Sh15,000 per month.
Scarcity of serviced land is also pushing most developers to acquire old buildings within the town and demolish them to put up multi-storeyed buildings in bid to increase the utility of the same space. "The plots around are becoming smaller as families expand. These plots are not agriculturally viable because they are small and one can hardly get anything if he sticks to farming, so many sell their plots and buy land elsewhere or build houses which are an automatic route for good returns," says Omwega.
He says the main reason for the few housing estates in the municipality is scarcity of land and many residents' preference for owner-occupancy homes than purchasing flats. This has subsequently led to acute rises in land prices.
Some notable high rise buildings in the town include Magsons Plaza, Ouru Plaza owned by energy firm Ouru Power, Nyakongo Plaza, Sansora Complex, Capital Building, Shabana Building, Golf House and Gudka Plaza among others.
The town also took in some victims of the early 2008 post election violence who fled from other parts of the country and have also contributed to the rise in housing boom.
State housing agency, National Housing Corporation (NHC), is among developers who have built new housing schemes in Kisii's Nyanchwa neighbourhood besides existing estates put up by the Municipal council and private housing.
Other middle income suburbs include Milimani, Nyangena, Embassy, Gesonso and Nyamataro which boast of apartment blocks, while lower middle income estates include outlying areas like Suneka, Jogoo, Getare, Menyinkwa and Nyankongo which house dense populations.
Demand for accommodation is also driven by academic institutions which are opening campuses in the town led by Kisii University College, a former campus of Egerton University.
