This article was first published by Cytonn, and has been slightly shortened. View the original here .
With the current available stock at 301,060, Kenya’s student housing gap has attracted private sector participation to increase supply.
Some of the factors that have driven demand for student housing in Kenya include: Rapidly growing student population: According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) 2021 Economic Survey , the student population in universities and vocational centres stood at 997,904 in FY2020/21 from 664,000 in FY2014/15. This represented a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5%, further expanding the student housing deficit by approximately 60,000 units. The numbers are set to increase as the university/college age demographic continues to grow. According to the 2019 population and housing census data, the number of individuals between 18-24 years, who mostly represents university and vocational entry students, was 6.4 million, representing 13.4% of the total Kenyan population of 47.6 million.
Increase in tertiary institutions: According to the KNBS, the overall number of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions increased by 7.5% to 2,301 in 2020, from 2,140 in 2019. This increase, especially in satellite branches, is supported by government policy to increase the number of higher learning institutions to accommodate the growing student population.
Public policy: Government measures such as scrapping visa requirements for other African countries is a boost for enrolment of international students to local institutions. In addition, the Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) has become more aggressive in fast-tracking recognition and equating of qualifications obtained from different countries, and the verification of certificates to ensure that they are genuine. To make Kenya more attractive, KNQA has planned to include upgrading accommodation facilities, setting out clearly defined academic calendars, and establishing international student directorates to assist learners. These will result in greater demand for quality student housing.
A few private sector players have taken interest in the concept of student housing, with institutional investors focusing their investment grade portfolio within Nairobi County. The key market players are shown below. Incoming supply of student housing over the past two years has been limited by the Covid-19 pandemic which presumably slowed down the investment volumes and brought about the trend of online-learning which further limited demand for student accommodation. However, as vaccination programmes accelerate to manage spread of the virus, the market has witnessed growing investor confidence and initiative in […]