“You will find a young person renting a house in Westlands yet he cannot afford to buy a home in that location. He would rather stay in a servant’s quarter in the so-called leafy suburbs rather than save and move into a less affluent area,” she says.

According to Ndego, a young person ought to look at such a home as an investment vehicle rather than just a place to live. “Have your own house however small. Let it appreciate in value, sell and buy another reasonably bigger house. You should continue to move up the home ownership ladder you finally get to that affluent neighbourhood you desired from the beginning,” says Ndego.

But both Rose Obonyo and Sheila Kimani have their apprehensions about property ownership in Kenya. They would like to channel some of their savings into the sector but fear they mind fall prey to swindlers. “As young people, we not are well-versed in all that pertains to property purchase. We only read and watch stories of people who have lost property though they had bought it through what was meant to be a clean transaction,” says Kimani.

According to Muriithi, such fears are not unfounded and stem from the casual manner land transactions have been handled over the years by authorities. He says the government should speed up the automation of all land and property-related transactions. “Young people prefer to do things digitally and it is up to the government to automate transactions thus eliminating any loopholes that crooks and rogue government officials exploit,” he says.