19.11.2012 - Nairobi: World's most improbable property booms
In 2010, reports of Somali pirates pouring into Nairobi's middle- and upper-end property market began to emerge from the Horn of Africa. Laden with sacks of cash, these rogue investors were said to be converting illegally-acquired ransom bounty into commercial and residential real estate in Nairobi's bustling Eastleigh district. Property prices in Eastleigh -- the long-time centre of Kenya's Somali community -- reportedly doubled as some $100m entered the market. "They usually paid in cash, often with bags filled with dollars," says Bernard Ochieng, of Crystal Valuers, a real estate agency in Nairobi. He estimates that 20 per cent of his clientele at the time was Somali...............................................Full Article: Source
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