DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS AND HOME OWNERSHIP THROUGH MORTGAGE FINANCING IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Demographic factors relate to socio-economic characteristics of an individual or population. The Kenyan mortgage market has only 10% of its borrowers who are 40 years and above, 60% are those who are from 20 to 40 years. The 60% is made up of those people called millennial and are vibrant and have adequate disposable income, hence this gives them an advantage to invest while they are still young. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between demographic factors and home ownership through mortgage financing in Nairobi County, Kenya. The relationship between age, marital status, gender and household size with mortgage financing homeownership in Nairobi County, Kenya was examined. A descriptive census survey of employees in 43 mortgage lenders’ banks and mortgage customers in state corporations were conducted. Both secondary and primary data was collected. Primary data was collected from 92 credit managers of mortgage institutions. The study also collected data from a sample of 393 mortgage customers selected from a population of 24,000 employees of three parastatals which was done through administering of questionnaires and conducting of interviews in their respective work stations. Secondary data was collected from published financial statements of CBK, mortgage lenders, and Kenya National Bureau Statistics (KNBS) for the period of 30 years (1989 –2019). Data collected was both quantitative and qualitative and was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found that demographic factors had statistical significant relationship with mortgage home ownership. It is recommended that mortgage market should be expanded with appropriate housing policies that take into account the demographic factors of the population.