The economy is not easy, but in these two areas high rise building are sprouting like mashrooms. What’s the secret Mahn
Chinaman is happening
buildings sprouting up is a sign that capital still has money (or access to finance). the true test is if those buildings will get tenants.
I’m just from the new Quick mat KILIMANI and I couldn’t get parking space. I don’t think everyone is suffering as they try to portray on twitter
How can you compare where 1% of the population goes with what’s affecting the other 99%?
maybe some employees are still doing okay, my prognosis of the economy is not good at all. Let’s keep watching some unscientific signs kama hio yako ya supermarket. With time we will pick up the right signals even with a lack of data.
Well I’m just saying what I see on the daily
You wouldn’t know that from a visit to a supermarket in an upper middle class area. Ukitaka kujua check if rents in the area have dropped - which they have as vacancies increase. Not everyone is suffering, but as a whole, I’m sure residents in those areas are worse off than they were in 2019.
Lastly, hizo apartments are mostly being built for sale not for rent. That’s how guvnas, CS’s, heads of parastatals, etc “clean”/launder their loot by contracting Chinese companies to build apartments they can later sell and get clean cash.
I keep saying that health is the true determinant of wealth. If any of these guys gets seriously ill, can they afford quality healthcare without going through a harambee and costs impacting their lifestyle?
The answer is probably not.
Those areas shows all wealth is being concentrated into the hands of just a few people, while the rest of the citizens have nothing. The rich are becoming richer, the poor are becoming poorer.
Ata ivo, people who live in such houses, na zile za great wall apartments…how different are they from zile kuku za kenchic na za William Ruto zenye huishi kwa cage? How can a person’s health be healthy living in such a place?
@Azor Ahai my cousin has enlisted me to help him search for a house to rent in either mountain view, new& old loresho, westlands,spring valley or new kitusuru…his budget is 150k- 250k, hakuna nyumba! In the whole of loresho there are only 3 townhouses for rent for that amount…at kaptagat there are only 2 and the owners want over 300k. Mountain view has no vacant house! Even those that go for under 100k are all occupied.
Last year there were so many houses in that range but this year hakuna…instead we only finding flats for between 50k-100k a month…those ones are plenty esp kilimani and kileleshwa areas…mind you we have enlisted over 4 agents. My point is the upper middle class kenyans still have money, those who can pay over 200k rent without a sweat. In the case of my cousin he already has a home and a proper side hustle but his employer is the one paying for this rental.
People paying 250k+ in rent are not upper middle class. But that is just my opinion and I could be wrong because there is no clear definition. The OP asked about Kili and Hurlingham which I would categorize as upper middle class areas where rent is in the 50k - 150k range. Your cousin is in the upper class and that’s not where the oversupply of property is. Developers are building apartments for the upper middle class. Your cousin is looking for a townhouse and such. Areas like Spring Valley are not for upper middle class people. Hao ni upper class earning over a mita per month mostly. My point is, those that can pay over 200k in rent are not the upper middle class. Those are the upper class.
townhouses most are on leases not rented. They hardly stay vacant for long. Ni ngumu sana upate mtu analipa rent ya townhouse in a high income area na mshahara yake isipokua expats, i mean anybody who can afford to pay 200k on rent can also afford to buy the same unit thru mortgage.
ata mimi nimeshangaa sana 250k rent and still middle class? Even doctors and PHd graduates dont make that amount in kenya.
Mzee nairobi watu walikuja kutafuta sio vacation. Nairobi is not your home, you get what brought u here and chuck before uzeekee town.
Chuck to where?? Kurudi mashambani after kukafunga is a very dumb decision. When you get what brought you here you retire to the leafy burbs and play golf with your agemates, sio kurudi mashambani kama mjinga. Wenye hurudi mashambani ni wale hawakuweza kukafunga and there is nothing wrong with that. I wouldn’t overlook Muthaiga for some rural life at any age unless I didn’t have a choice moneywise like most retirees. Wacha nikuchanue kidogo kijana, most retirees go to live upcountry involuntarily because that’s where their money will sustain them longest. If money isn’t a problem, very few leave the city.
Baba, kila mtu ako na preferences zake. Hio muthaiga unangojea to retire in 2050 or 2060 may not even be around by then. Ask wazees who had built their retirement homes in lavington/kileleshwa/kilimani in the early '00s. Saa hii wanasumbuana na akina joe muchiri and shaffie weru kila asubuhi.
Sijasema itakuwa around, there will always be a new Muthaiga somewhere and as long as you have money you will afford to live there. Hujapandwa one location kama mti. I repeat: most retirees shift to upcountry residences due to financial reasons, not because they like rural life. A sixty year old mzee with serious money is not leaving Nairobi any time soon.
Chenye natry kukuambia is that if you secure the bag, only then will you realize the folly of going to live upcountry. It will be an impossible choice.
Ask all your old (60+) and rich uncles and aunts whether they would leave Karen, Runda, Muthaiga, Ridgeways etc and live upcountry. You will hear a firm NO otherwise they would have done so already. Lakini hawa wenye hawajakafunga who live in middle class rented houses, those ones have no choice but to leave the city after retirement.
Watu wa 30k salo tukae wapi
Gone are the days when you had to be physically in the city to make money. Wewe ni kijanaa acha kufikria kama mtu wa 1960 bana. Mimi Safaricom wakifisha faiba pale nanyuki siezi mind a 20-acre ranch on my own away from the noise and traffic jams na ukora yote ya hii town. I may have strategic investments in town lakini kuishi huku past 55 ni upuss tu. I cant imagine sitting in Mombasa road traffic for five hours at 65 just to go for lunch or a doctor’s checkup.
I really like how wazungus do their thing. Unapata kampuni kubwa kama Ferrari have their factory headquarters in Maranello which is basically rural Italy badala kuchrome in urban centres in the name of ‘kukafunga’