Land and Housing Overtake Agriculture in Kenyan Sacco Lending
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Land and housing-related borrowing accounted for 37.3 per cent of new sacco credit in 2025, overtaking agriculture and education as members increasingly tap long-term loans to buy land and homes.
New loans for land purchase and home ownership in Kenyan savings and credit cooperatives (saccos) overtook agriculture and education in 2025 as members increasingly tapped long-term credit, according to data from the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra) reported by Business Daily.
Sasra data shows the cooperatives added Sh53.8 billion as new credit in 2025, compared with Sh82.3 billion in 2024. Land and housing-related borrowing accounted for 37.3 per cent of the Sh53.8 billion, representing Sh20.08 billion.
New lending for land and homes grew from Sh12.8 billion in 2024 to Sh20.8 billion, with saccos increasingly tapping credit lines from the State-backed Kenya Mortgage Refinance Company (KMRC) for cheaper onward lending to members for homes.
In 2024, agriculture and education accounted for the largest shares of new credit at 37.3 per cent and 28.1 per cent respectively, while real estate and land stood at 15.7 per cent. Land and housing accounted for the largest share of total lending in 2025 at Sh157.20 billion, or 26.35 per cent of total loans disbursed, the report notes. The Economic Survey Report 2026 shows the construction sector expanded by 6.8 per cent in 2025, up from 0.7 per cent growth in 2024, driven mainly by residential building.
According to the regulator’s report, Kenya had 357 regulated saccos — 179 deposit-taking and 178 non-withdrawable deposit-taking — with cumulatively reported lending growing 12.45 per cent to Sh887.7 billion.