肯尼亚的一项世界银行调查显示，仅十分之一的人口收入足以支持房贷。然而，随着更实惠的公寓单位在内罗毕郊区售罄，情况可能正在改变。一位35岁的科技狂热者正在寻找他的第一套房产，对价值5万美元的公寓感兴趣，这些公寓被称为“入门级住房”，适合想要开始家庭的人。Suraya Properties公司自四年前开始在肯尼亚首都及其郊区建设入门级住房，目标是吸引低收入和中等收入市场。尽管面临高利率问题，但公司发现退休人士对这种住房表现出兴趣，他们希望在城里拥有一处自己的居所。Thika和Syokimau的公寓综合体仍在建设中，但已全部售罄。
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KENYA:肯尼亚
NAIROBI：n. 内罗比（肯尼亚首都）
outskirts ：n. 市郊，郊区
enthusiast：n.
狂热者，热心家
dubbed/dʌb/ ：
v. 刺；授予…称号；译制影片；结账（dub的过去分词）
adj. 被称为的；译制的
January 29,2016
NAIROBI, KENYA— A 2011 World Bank survey found that only about one-tenth of Kenya's population earned enough to support a mortgage. However, that situation may be changing, with more affordable apartment units on the outskirts of Nairobi selling out even before the start of construction.
Anthony Wamburu, a 35-year-old technology enthusiast, is in the market for his first property.
Wamburu has been saving for a while now, and has his eye on an apartment — valued at $50,000 — in Kenya's capital, Nairobi. The units are dubbed "starter homes" by Suraya properties, the firm behind the venture.
"They are not very expensive for somebody like me who is looking to start a family quite soon,” he said. “And also I like the way it comes with different benefits. It comes with a gym. It also comes with a swimming pool, so I would not have to get gym membership somewhere else. So a starter home would be quite perfect for me."
Begun four years ago, Suraya Properties has built starter homes in the Kenyan capital and its outskirts with a view toward tapping into the low- and middle-income market. Most of their units range between $10,000 and $80,000.
Unexpected buyers
The company was started to supply affordable homes to first-time home buyers, said CEO Peter Muraya, but a market was uncovered that he had not anticipated.
"Surprisingly, we have found that there's a lot of people heading to retirement who have looked at it differently and they are thinking, 'We [were] going to maybe the countryside retirement home' but they want a place in town where they can be coming and where it's their own," Muraya said.
The new apartment complexes in Thika and Syokimau are still under construction, but already are sold out.
Still, homeownership remains beyond the reach of most Kenyans. The Mortgage Company, a Kenyan real estate firm, estimates that only a fifth of Kenyans can afford a home priced at $10,000.
Part of the problem is the high interest rates charged by Kenyan banks.
"You're talking about borrowing at [rates of] eighteen, nineteen, twenty and even in some cases higher than that,” said economic analyst Aly Khan Satchu. “It's very expensive to borrow money from the bank and until we see significantly lower rates, I think we'll continue to see poor mortgage penetration because it's just too expensive."
Another real estate company, Hass Consult, says only 30,000 Kenyans hold mortgages, a tiny fraction of the country's 42 million people.
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