Mwanahabari Reporter
This is a very tough question to answer for most working Kenyans today.
A house or a car? Which should come first?
Some people see a car as a liability, and a house as some kind of investment.
Then there are those who think that a house too is a liability since it does not generate income, instead one has to pay for repairs, security and other maintenance fees.
Job Kamau, a resident of Nairobi said he bought a car three months after landing his first job, and he regrets it to date.
“I took a Sh1 million loan and imported a small car for myself. I think I was under a lot of pressure from friends and the society. I just wanted to fit it,” I think it is wrong to take a loan to buy a car.
Job thinks that those who take loans to buy car cannot afford that car, which is why they go for a loan.
Timothy Okoyo bought a house in Nairobi in 2019, for Sh6 million.
“I don’t live in the house at the moment, instead I have rented it out and I get something at the end of the month,” says Okoyo who still leaves in a rented house, where he pays much less rent.
“My pay Sh20,000 for a two-bedroom house in Eastland where I live currently, but my house, which I bought, gives me Sh40,000 per month,” said Okoyo who plans to move into his house once he is done paying the house loan.
Okoyo does not have a car, yet.
He says it is good to buy a car especially if your work demands it, and only if you can afford it.
Cars are currently very expensive
The prices of cars have hit the roof especially given the inflation and the high dollar prices at the moment.
A good car will cost you over Sh1 million if you import it, though one can acquire a second hand car cheaply.
DID YOU KNOW
1.The number of registered cars in Kenya was 4,353,891.000 units in 2021, that number has increased in 2022.
2. A total of 4,666,027 Kenyans live in the rental apartments, according to 2019 national census.
3. According to 2019 census results, out of 47.6 million Kenyans, 7,379,485 own their homes, this is 15.4 percent of the total population.