One of the biggest questions in every home buyer’s mind right now is How long can I continue to meet my mortgage payments? Developers are wondering whether they should continue with the projects and whether they will have takers for their developments.

Over the last 3-4 months, the Kenyan property market has suffered a double blow. The Kenya shilling depreciation from an average of Kes 80 for the longest time to an all time low of Kes 107 to the US Dollar which drastically increased the cost of imported finishes and the increase in interest  rates from all time low of 9.9% p.a. to 27%p.a. over a span of 3 months! Every person with a mortgage facility was thrown into shock facing the reality that their mortgage repayments had close to doubled overnight! For the developers the double whammy of facing increased cost of construction and high loan repayments on the project financing has left them wondering if they can break even let alone make a decent return. To make matters worse, the mortgage takers who had committed to buy the units at the pre-sale and development phase are also wondering if they can really buy the houses now.