A majority of Kenya's middle-class prefer buying apartments to bungalows, a real estate developer has said.
According to Gakuyo Real Estate Chairman David Ngare, the demand for apartments by the middle-class especially in urban centres, was due to their closeness to social amenities such as schools, roads and hospitals.
"Demand for apartments by the middle-class in the last few years has indeed gone high. Not many people are preferring homes as it was five years ago. Real estate firms have now shifted their focus to apartments," said Ngare.
He added that most of those buying houses in Kiambu prefer gated communities especially along Kiambu Road.
The demand for housing, he noted, has seen prices go up, adding that they might even rise further due to the weakening Kenyan shilling against the dollar.
He, however, remained optimistic that buyers would not stay away due to the availability of various methods of financing houses like mortgages.