Rent for single rooms in Kenya is the fastest rising. Official data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that since October 2013, rent for single room houses has risen by 30 per cent to a national average of Sh. 4,416.
On the other end, rent for two-bedroom bungalows rose the slowest over the past five years as tenants of single-room houses absorbed the steepest rise in changes that have seen the poor suffer most. Official data shows that rent for two-bedroom bungalows has risen by 16 per cent to an average of Sh. 29,829 per month since October 2013.
This means tenants of two-bedroom units have benefited from slower rent rise while landlords who have put money in single-room houses have raked in higher returns.
Three-bedroom maisonettes recorded an 18 per cent rise to Sh. 36,241 in the five-year period to October, while rent for two-bedroom flats grew 26 per cent to Sh. 21,344.
The KNBS report does not track the rent for one-bedroom houses. The rent data means that developers of single-room units, popular with low income earners, have gained the most in terms of rate of returns on their investments especially in major towns.
They are followed by investors in two-bedroom flats and three-bedroom maisonettes, while bungalows are bottom amid concern of a glut in the high-end housing segment.