Vintage company’s CEO Elijah Njoroge poses outside their greenhouse during the Nairobi ASK Show 2016. Greenhouses are helping companies sell more property. Photo by Laban Robert.
Inclusion of agribusiness incentives is attracting more working class youths into property investment in the urban areas.
The construction of greenhouses, which is the farming model being taken up by property companies is becoming an opportunity of recovering the invested capital within a year while the land is appreciating ahead of reselling.
Denko Properties Consultant Gilbert Yator said more youths than before are interested in purchasing land for prospective reasons.
But the inclusion of agribusiness incentives like a greenhouse is making the deal sweater as it adds value to the property.
For instance, Denko Properties sells a plot in Juja, Kiambu County, at Sh630,000. The purchaser adds Sh295,000 more for the installation of the greenhouse, which is managed by the property company to generate at least a half a million shillings per year.
“This investment targets the young enterprising generation that has not decided to settle, but want to invest in property for resale after appreciation of the prices. An opportunity to make an extra coin from the agribusiness without physically working in the greenhouse is contributing to the surge in this investment,” Yator said.
The company has property in Kiambu, Kajiado, Nairobi, among other cosmopolitan counties and towns.
After paying the extra Sh295,000, the company does all the production work until marketing, while the owner waits for the agreed money. This is perfect for the working class, who cannot be at the farm all through.
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The choice of the short season crops such as tomatoes, capsicums, cucumbers, among others ensures quick sales in the towns like Nairobi, where the market is always available.
If one gets Sh500,000 per year, they have recovered more than half of the investment besides the property appreciating in price.
In recent years, the company has recorded over three times more sales of land, which have greenhouses than those without.
Yator said the value addition, which has been adopted by many property companies, has increased the speed of selling of land by more than three times because of the recovery and turn-over rate.