CMA Approves 3.9 Billion For The Affordable Housing Project

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has approved the issuance of a 3.9 billion shillings corporate bond for Urban Housing Renewal Development Limited to facilitate affordable housing.

CMA Chief Executive, Wyckliffe Shamiah stated that the issuance of the bond aims to support productive economic activities in the country, including delivery of affordable housing which is one of the key pillars of the National Big Four Agenda.

“One of the constraints of the growth of housing in Kenya is the financing constraint with total mortgages in Kenya at under 30,000 as mortgages remain out of the reach of many Kenyans, while the houses units in the market are also relatively expensive,” Shamiah said.

According to Shamiah, the success of the housing project will be used as a model to facilitate the rollout of more affordable houses, especially now that there is growing demand across the country.

“Innovative capital market financing through corporate bonds are strategies to deliver relatively cheaper houses to Kenyans. The oversubscription of the EABL and Family Bank corporate bond issues by 245 percent and 147 percent, respectively, indicates enhanced investor confidence and growing liquidity in the market,” he said.

The bond will be issued through the Medium-Term Note Program to support a housing project in Pangani, Nairobi meant to comprise 1,562 housing units.

The authority had earlier on approved the issuance of 4 billion shillings medium-term note to Centum Investments Company Plc and 8 billion shillings to Family Bank.