During the week, the National Treasury launched the Kenya Mortgage Refinancing Company (KMRC).
The KMRC is a non-bank financial institution, incorporated as a limited liability company to provide affordable long-term funding and capital market access to primary mortgage lenders such as banks and financial co-operatives.
KMRC has so far mobilized 37.2 billion shillings, meeting the minimum core capital requirement of at least 1.0 billion shillings for operation according to the Central Bank of Kenya (Mortgage Refinance Companies) Regulations 2019.
The facility has received funding support of 25 billion shillings from the World Bank, 10 billion shillings from the African Development Bank (AfDB), and 200 million shillings from Shelter Afrique.
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These funds will be applied towards enhancing access to affordable housing finance, strengthening KMRC balance sheet, and providing requisite credit enhancements to support KMRC issuance of mortgage-backed bonds in the capital market.
According to analysts from Cytonn Investments, the launch of the KMRC is a positive step towards addressing the housing finance shortage in Kenya, which has been a key challenge in the housing sector.
Successful implementation of KMRC will, therefore, boost the Kenyan mortgage market and increase home ownership among Kenyans.
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