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In a co-operation with roofing solutions provider Mabati Rolling Mills (MRM), Equity Bank Group launched its new micro mortgages product. Equity Bank Group’s entry in the micro mortgage class is expected to radically transform the mortgage-financing subsector while addressing the deficit in low cost housing units.
Salaried individuals and entrepreneurs with a monthly income of at least KES20, 000 can now obtain micro mortgage product designed to facilitate the erection of low cost housing units. The micro mortgage will finance the cost of purchasing pre-fabricated, quality-assured steel frame structures from MRM.
Equity Bank will provide financing to customers wishing to take advantage of the high quality, cost effective and time saving building solution by MRM across its network countrywide.
The new micro mortgages will also carry financing value-add features covering the cost of land purchase and the cost of electricity connection at a fee of KsES35,000 by Kenya Power. Mortgage financing is already Equity Bank’s fastest growing product category. |
Kisumu Boom Continues
Kisumu city continues to experience a property boom that has seen land prices triple in value in some areas. And the trend is expected to persist.
Investors in commercial and residential property have been trooping to the lakeside city in droves in a move that has seen an unprecedented rise in the value of land and housing units in and around the town.
Some of the biggest beneficiaries of the boom have been property agents and developers who have had to deal with rising numbers of clients looking for property to rent, buy, or develop.
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Property developers have unveiled a new way of buying houses, which seeks to protect buyers from unexpected price fluctuations, while improving on value of their investment.
The investors have particularly been advised to buy houses through off-plan purchase system, which helps cushion them from price escalations fuelled by inflation and exchange rate volatility, among other economic factors.
Under the off-plan buying system, homebuyers pay a certain percentage of the home price to a developer to reserve
Home buyers can now hedge against inflation
the property under construction.
This approach protects them from rising cost of building materials, which has forced developers to constantly adjust their prices making it expensive for potential homebuyers.
While Central Bank has adjusted upwards its benchmark lending rates to commercial banks to control inflation and protect a weak shilling, part of the consequences have been an upward revision in mortgage rates. The changes in these rates has forced leading banks to also review up their mortgage rates.
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