LONDON, Nov 9 – HassConsult has been named the Best Real Estate Agency in Africa at the International Property Awards held in London, UK and sponsored by the New York Times, Bloomberg, the International Herald Tribune, and all leading global real estate organisations.
HassConsult, which is now a nominee for World\’s Best goes through to the global awards to be held later this month, up against the winners for Asia, Europe and the Americas. HassConsult was named best agency in Africa following innovations that have seen it change the Kenyan property market.
In the mid-1990s, at a time when Kenya’s capital markets were less developed, HassConsult pioneered a new off-plan financing model for developers, which went on to become the industry standard, and fuelled the take-off in Kenya’s construction and development boom.
The model, premised on tight guarantees of delivery, removed the need for developers of high-end developments to secure financing for building, and instead offered heavy discounts to the buyers of off-plan houses in return for cash payments in increments that funded the building.
HassConsult was able to price developments using this model in the decade from 1995 so that buyers of the houses doubled their investment within three years.
In the last two years, the agency has rolled out a property price index, and which have sparked a take-off in middle end developments.
The house price index, which has been constantly expanded and is now being extended with partners in the mortgage and property fund markets, has tracked closing sales prices, as well as asking prices for property, and has led to visible price adjustments, acting as a brake on surging asking prices in the face of evidence that some of the price rises were unjustified by market demand.
In middle-market housing, where property buyers are now substantially mortgage-financed and cannot pay in cash instalments, Hass two years ago rolled out a joint venture model that saw landowners provide land in return for rights to a proportion of the completed properties. The results in lower pricing and reduced development costs have fuelled a surge in new mid-market investments, with this model also now being adopted across the industry.
HassConsult also won awards for the Best Real Estate Agency Website in Kenya and Best Real Estate Marketing, outperforming on the international criteria for transparency and the quality of service provided to its clients.
HassConsult has been the managing agency for more than 30 developments in and around Nairobi, including many of the developments in Riverside, Karen, Lavington and all areas of Nairobi, including Kiambu.
