Saccos losing share of loans for land and housing

The market share of loans borrowed by Sacco members for land and housing purposes is shrinking, even as the sector still holds the highest proportion of credit advances.

The Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) 2024 industry report shows that the loans disbursed under the land and housing sector stood at Sh137.1 billion in 2024 compared to Sh126.1 billion in 2023.

The report shows that last year’s figures made up 25.26 per cent of the total credit and advances issued by regulated Saccos. This is a drop from 27.39 per cent in 2023. Sasra, while noting that the highest proportion of loans issued by regulated Saccos was to lands and housing, pointed out a gradual drop over the years of the sector’s market share.

“It is noteworthy that although the proportion of loans and credit advances issued by regulated Saccos towards land and housing sectors remained the highest and most dominant, the same has been on a downward trajectory from a market share of 33.24 per cent in 2022 to 26.97 per cent in 2023 and 25.26 per cent in 2024,” the report says.

Of the Sh137.1 billion advanced, Sh67.33 billion was earmarked for housing purchase or construction, while the rest, Sh69.79 billion, was for buying land.

“The increase in the funding by regulated Saccos towards land and housing sectors is consistent with the findings of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) Economic Survey, 2025, which reported that Saccos made the highest financing arrangements towards the real estate market at 31.8 per cent,” the report says. The KNBS report shows cooperatives and Saccos are the go-to financial institutions for housing and land financing needs at 31.8 per cent followed by housing finance institutions (22.7 per cent), microfinance institutions (13.6 per cent), self help groups or chamas (9.1 per cent), family and friends (4.6 per cent), and employer scheme (4.6 per cent).

Land and housing seem to be losing their market share to agriculture, which gobbled up Sh108.8 billion in 2024 from Sh76.91 billion in 2023.

“The proportion of loans and credit advances issued towards the agricultural sectors of the economy has been on an upward trajectory, albeit with marginal increases from 13.76 per cent in 2022 to 16.96 per cent in 2023 and 20.05 per cent in 2024 probably buoyed by the good weather patterns over the last two years as well as government interventions through subsidies,” the report says.

Education also grew from Sh94.54 billion in 2023 to Sh119.49 billion in 2024.

Of the Sh137.1 billion advanced for land and housing, Sh110.47 billion was extended by deposit-taking Saccos (DT-Saccos) and Sh26.65 billion by non-withdrawable deposit-taking Saccos (NWDT-Saccos).

In the period, while the amounts for land and housing purposes advanced by DT-Saccos were an increase from Sh95.20 billion in 2023, the advances by NWDT–Saccos in the same period were a drop from Sh28.98 billion in 2023.

According to the report, the total amount of loans advanced by regulated Saccos in 2024 stood at Sh542.75 billion from Sh460.47 billion in 2023.

Land, housing, and agriculture are among the eight sectors that the 355 regulated Saccos extended credit to.

Others included consumption and social services (Sh48.90 billion), finance, investment and insurance (Sh35.26 billion), human health (Sh10.85 billion), education (Sh119.49 billion), manufacturing and servicing industries (Sh19.20 billion), and trade (Sh63.14 billion).