If you work abroad, and really wanted to invest in Kenya, what would you buy/invest in?
a) A simple townhouse in a gated estate (ready-made)
b) 2-3 matatus
c) Other businesses
By admitting that they don’t have the luxury of traveling back and forth, you are indeed supporting that real estate remains their best choice because of its passive nature. Only a very stupid guy in the diaspora would buy matatus or start a business if what you said prior “difficulty of traveling back and forth” is anything to go by. So, the first part of your statement contradicts the second part. You cannot lack the luxury of traveling to Kenya frequently and invest in a matatu or other SMEs.
niulize, how do they track diaspora remittances, do they differentiate the same from say the foreign ngo’s who get funding from abroad, or the many guys who do online jobs.
these business are been stsrted for family members, instead of one sending money every month, for your information, very few people are sending money home to be invested on their behalf. people have gone through hell courtesy of family member. siku hizi, if you wanna invest, unaenda nyumbani and do your things, else wache ikae.
I do wonder which diasporians youve interacted with. But take it from me, very few can afford a 40Mill apartment in Kenya.
That’s USD400k, that will be a very tall order for many.
It is possible if they can access credit.
Thier % as compared to the locals who buy/ own those apartments is negligible… in garden city where a 2bd apartment sells 26m and villa for 45m locals own most of those apartments.
Exactly a huge chunk of the money is family upkeep, very little on investment.
The people buying these properties are still corrupt individuals in government and ordinary investors.
We have people with good income these days not like back in the day.
Interesting perspective.
Most of this homes are owned by old money guys ama new money tenderprenuer Kama Mimi ,hata @Purple would struggle to buy a simple house in a slum like buru,lazma anunue those to plots huko rift valley ama kwa mutua
Credit for what, usd400k ? Wapi huko ?
Plus, nowadays it’s possible to open bank accounts in KCB and Equity banks, so, a good % of this money is holed up in savings accounts.
Mwambie hata 10 million. Out there ni struggle.
Where is the link between diasporan remittances and purchase of high end real estate from? There are very few @Purples. And does she have homes in Kileleshwa?
Access loans at 5% in which country? Lucky if you score a personal loan of 15% in the developed world. 5% is for mortgages in the home country. Even if you do get a 5% loan for a 50M house as you claim in Runda, thats a monthly payment of about $2600 for 30 years. How many people can humanely afford this?
nilimwambia correlation not causation lakini hakuelewa…
Am still waiting on kenya’s property market bubble. Why will you invest millions in real estate just to rent it out for a few thousands shillings ?
as opposed to?
The number of Kenyans abroad is estimated to be about three (3) Million and is continuously on the rise. Indeed the Diaspora possesses immense resources which can greatly contribute to the transformation of our country as envisaged in the Kenya Vision 2030. (Ref: http://www.mfa.go.ke/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Kenya-Diaspora-Policy.pdf )
Given that Total Remittance is around 260b, then average is about 87,000 KES each!! Even if we assume that it is per family, at an average of 4 persons per family, then the new average would be less than 360k per family per year of 30k per month per family! Nothing to write home about.