A screen grab of the app’s demonstration. [PHOTO: COURTESY/STANDARD]

By KEVIN OGUOKO

Picture this: A world of real estate investment decisions with no fear of losses. All the relevant information, backed with statistics and relevant documents, being only a click away.

This might soon be a reality in Kenya if CityMark web-based software being used in South Africa is adapted by Kenya.

The application was introduced for the first time in the country during a two-week demo conference in Nairobi. The audience included media, bloggers and investors.

CityMark application software is a web-based dynamic dashboard that delivers local housing market intelligence, to one’s desktop accurately, efficiently and easily. CityMark dashboard gives answers to the most commonly asked questions about housing markets.

“Every locality looking to expand needs an urban strategy. Some investors might find it hard to get wind of some of these underlying opportunities due to lack of information on some of these areas,” said Adelaide Steedley, founder of CityMark.

USES

The software is being used to collects information on South African neighbourhoods. It provides information such as housing prices over time, and also provides functionality to compare one neighbourhood to another over time.

Other information the software provides includes property loans in a neighbourhood and the number of transactions.

CityMark will provide this app in three cities, including Nairobi, if local organisations meet the requirements of the software company.

According to its innovators, the app’s use is not limited to developers but can also be used by governmental departments for planning purposes.

“CityMark can be used for advisory purposes as a guide for policy makers through analysing data from the dashboard. Through this, they can formulate informed strategies on how to encourage favourable housing trends such as affordable housing, which remains a major challenge in sub-Saharan Africa,” says Adelaide Steedley.

According to Steedly, lack of reliable market data at the local level is one of the key hindrances to investment in affordable housing.

Like many applications, the CityMark app is faced with challenges, key being lack of reliable data which threatens the accuracy of its output. This is against the backdrop of lack of digitisation of Kenya’s Lands records and manual filing system in many property-related government departments.

CHALLENGES

“These challenges are experienced in major cities in Africa. To tackle this, CityMark will encourage digitisation of records by pointing the relevant departments to the right direction on professionals, both inside and outside Kenya, by showing them the advantages of digitising their records and what that data can do for the good of the whole real estate industry,” says Steedley.

The CityMark software was developed by Centre for Affordable Housing Finance in Africa, in partnership with FinMark Trust.