By Lenah Bosibori
NAIVASHA, Kenya, August 20, 2026 — For millions of Kenyans who earn their living through small businesses, farming, freelancing, casual work or the informal economy, getting a mortgage can be difficult, not necessarily because they cannot afford monthly repayments, but because they struggle to prove their income.
The government is pushing lenders to consider mobile money transactions, SACCO savings, rental payment histories, utility bills, and business transactions when assessing whether prospective homebuyers can afford a mortgage.
Speaking on Thursday at the opening of the 5th Kenya Affordable Housing Conference (KAHC) in Naivasha, Principal Secretary for Housing and Urban Development Charles Hinga said homeownership should not be limited by conventional mortgage requirements.
“Ownership is not a single door. It should be a corridor with several doors, each opening onto the same outcome,” Hinga said.
He called for lenders to look beyond payslips when assessing borrowers, using alternative indicators of financial reliability such as mobile-money transactions, SACCO savings, rental payment histories, utility bills and business transactions.
The proposal comes as more than 280,000 housing units are currently under construction across the country, with a combined contract value of about KSh731.5 billion and more than 640,000 direct and indirect jobs supported.
More than 45,000 units are expected to be completed by December at an estimated cost of KSh52 billion. But as the government ramps up construction, a bigger question remains: Who will be able to afford and finance these homes?
Traditional mortgage assessments tend to favour people with formal employment, regular salaries and conventional income documentation that can exclude a large segment of Kenya’s workforce, including traders, farmers, small-business owners and freelancers whose income may fluctuate but who may still have a consistent record of saving, paying rent and managing household expenses.
Hinga called for a standardized affordable housing mortgage with common requirements for eligibility, underwriting, documentation, valuation and servicing. Such standardization, he said, could make mortgages easier to pool and refinance while attracting more long-term domestic investment into housing.
The government is also proposing a broader definition of creditworthiness. With more than 1.29 million Kenyans registered on Boma Yangu, Hinga said the platform could also be linked with lenders to help prospective homeowners move from registration and prequalification to financing, allocation and eventually acquisition of title.
The government’s ambition is to increase Kenya’s mortgage market from approximately 30,000 mortgages to one million.
Banks say affordability starts before the mortgage
For banks, however, widening access to mortgages is only part of the challenge.
Caroline Wanjeri, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Kenya Director of Mortgage Business, said in remarks delivered by George Laboso, Senior Manager, Affordable Housing at KCB Bank, that financing cannot be separated from the cost of developing homes.
High construction costs, limited investment finance and a shortage of serviced land all affect the final price paid by homebuyers. “We are looking at the entire housing journey while seeking to make these solutions more accessible and responsive to evolving customer needs,” Wanjeri said.
KCB also called for greater adoption of alternative building materials to reduce construction costs, alongside developments incorporating energy efficiency, sustainable materials and climate-resilient infrastructure.
For homebuyers, affordability also depends on what surrounds the house. Transport, water, sanitation and other essential services can significantly increase the cost of living in a development, KCB noted.
Shelter Afrique Development Bank Managing Director and CEO Thierno-Habib Hann said conventional housing finance models often assume formal employment, reliable land records, long-term funding and mature financial markets conditions that do not reflect the realities of many African economies. “More than 80 per cent of Africa’s workforce earns within the informal economy,” he said.
Hann called for housing finance models that reflect how people actually earn and save, including blended finance, alternative credit assessment, capital-market instruments, green housing finance and digital solutions.
Johnstone Oltetia, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC), said Kenya must tackle both sides of the housing challenge: increasing the supply of affordable homes and making it easier for people to finance them.
“This year’s theme speaks to both the scale of the challenge and the promise before us: to close the twin gaps that constrain access at scale,” Oltetia said.
He challenged policymakers, lenders, developers and other stakeholders to focus on whether housing commitments ultimately translate into homeownership. “Let this be the conference where we stop measuring housing by what we plan, and start measuring it by what we deliver,” he said.
The two-day KAHC 2026, themed “Scaling the Base: Unlocking Inclusive and Sustainable Housing Solutions,” brings together policymakers, lenders, SACCOs, developers, development finance institutions and housing specialists to explore ways of expanding access to affordable housing.