Real estate developer Mi Vida Homes has signed an investment deal with International Housing Solutions (IHS) to develop the ‘237 Garden City’ housing project, pointing towards timely delivery.
Under the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approvals, IHS Kenya Fund will acquire two hundred units within the project.
The project is the third by the property developer at Garden City, which is a 47-acre mixed-use development situated along Thika Road.
Speaking during the announcing ceremony in Nairobi, Mi Vida Homes CEO Samuel Kariuki, said the purchase agreement, at an undisclosed fixed price, will enable the developer mitigate market risk, which is a challenge to scaling for the wider housing market.
“Through this partnership, we have a guaranteed market for the apartments we are building. Our main goal is to guarantee timely delivery and sustainability at every stage of the project, including planning, building and project management,” Kariuki said.
IHS Kenya managing director Peter Mayavi reiterated the purchase agreement will guarantee Mi Vida Homes a ready market, thus boosting the confidence of both the developers and other stakeholders.
He added that the pact is timely because Kenya has a pressing need for housing that is not only affordable, but offers the quality that ensures users get a dignified living.
“A key way of ensuring this goal is removing the market risk for developer partners because this will now catalyze the development of large-scale projects such as 237.”
Kenya faces a shortage of about two million housing units every year, against a current supply of only 50,000 new housing units.
The units in the 237 development are a mix of one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments.
IHS is a private equity fund manager investing in green affordable housing across Sub-Saharan Africa.
It additionally partners with other financial institutions, development financiers, investors, land owners and developers to increase the stock of quality, affordable green housing in the Kenyan market.
It intends to build sustainable city communities where residents will live close to public transportation, create jobs through their developments, and work with non-profits to solve inequality in the real estate industry.
Within the next seven years, IHS Kenya intends to provide up to 4,000 affordably priced apartments for both sale and rental.
Further, IHS is an asset manager of six affordable housing funds in the Southern African region and manages a listed REIT on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
It boasts of a solid track record in the African affordable housing space with operations across four countries in the Sub-Saharan African region (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Kenya), and is a wholly owned subsidiary within the US- Hunt Companies group, a real estate and infrastructure fund manager.
On the other hand, Mi Vida is a residential developer created through a joint venture between Actis, a leading growth markets investor who have been active in the region for over 70 years and Shapoorji Pallonji Real Estate (SPRE), the real estate arm of one of India’s largest conglomerates.
Was officially launched in July 2019 to address the shortage of middle-income housing that families can afford, by delivering a minimum of 3,000 middle-income housing units over the next five years.
It is embodied in works of innovative design, modern engineering, trusted construction, on-time delivery and an impeccable record.
