Homes for starters

From a distance, they look like any standard apartment block around the city. The three blocks are almost complete and are expected to be occupied by next month. But the occupants will not be your ordinary middle-class Kenyan who has been saving for a dream home.

These flats, aptly known as First Homes, consist mostly of bedsitters, popularly referred to as starter homes that target young first-time homeowners. They are being built a short distance past Mlolongo on Mombasa Road.

According to Aaron Gitonga, the director of Rogam Investment Limited, the company that is putting up the houses, the project is aimed at helping those who are just starting out in life own homes.

“No one takes that market seriously and that is why letting of SQs (servant quarters) is popular. First Homes seek to capitalise on the absence of such an option for clients,” said Gitonga.

Located in the rapidly growing Mlolongo area, the project neighbours notable apartment developments like Hill Crest Park, Valley View Park, Sheshe Gardens and Delta Plains. It is expected to have a total of 250 apartment units, 180 of which are bedsitters.

Set on two-and-a-half acres, the Sh480 million First Homes, which started early last year, will have a mini shopping centre, a nursery school and a health club. It offers three studio apartment options: basic studio (18 square metres), standard studio (23.6 square metres) and deluxe studio (28.5 square metres). The deluxe studio has a partitioned space that can fit a bed, a study table and a wardrobe.

It is, however, not the first such project. The idea of starter homes was started by Suraya Property Group in 2012 with their Encasa starter homes on Mombasa Road, just behind Mlolongo town.

Besides bedsitter and studio apartments, Encasa has affordable one, two and three-bedroom houses.

“The middle-lower-income earners who are mainly young and upwardly-mobile individuals looking for decent and secure living environments, will love the effort we have put in here,” said Gitonga, adding: “That is why the development is techno-smart and includes services like Wi-Fi.”

The bedsitters go for Sh1,530,000, Sh1,912,500 and Sh2,295,000, respectively for cash buyers. Mortgage buyers will pay Sh1,800,000, Sh2,250,000 and Sh2,700,000, respectively. One block of 70 bedsitters has already been bought by an investor.

Some blocks have one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, which are going for Sh2,541,500 and Sh3,060,500, respectively.

Both the apartments and starter homes are quite small. The apartments cannot accommodate a family, but can easily accommodate a bachelor, bachelorette or a young couple.

Buyers seem more interested in bigger houses that have two or three rooms as exhibited by thriving estates in Mlolongo, Kitengela and Athi River. But backers of First Homes say that their starter homes will sell out once construction is completed.

Experts disagree, saying Kenya has become a dumping site for new experiments that have failed elsewhere.

“People are being taken for a ride with starter homes because really, for how long will you be young?” asked Justus Munene, former vice chairman of the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya (ISK) and managing director of Daytons Valuers Limited. “Starter homes are targeted at the young in the society but for the amount these homes are being sold, one can buy land and build one’s own house.”

According to Munene, starter homes will never be a trend unless more is done to make them convenient, spacious and modern.

“Not many people will spend their money on starter homes because the developers compromise on the aesthetics and comfort so as to cut on cost,” he said.

First Homes developers have partnered with Co-operative Bank of Kenya, which is fully financing the construction. The bank is also offering mortgages to interested clients.

“We are aware that the market will consist mostly of people in their first jobs and we will listen to any financial proposal they might have,” said Gitonga