FACTORS AFFECTING THE SUPPLY OF AFFORDABLE RESIDENTIAL HOUSING UNITS IN KENYAN URBAN AREAS: A CASE OF NAIROBI CITY AND ITS ENVIRONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47941/ijf.38Keywords:
supply, affordable residential housing units, urban areasAbstract
Purpose: The study focused on the factors affecting the supply of affordable residential housing units in Kenyan urban areas in the case of Nairobi city and its environs.
Methodology: A descriptive survey research design was used. The target population comprised of all the real estate agents, valuers and property managers with headquarters in Nairobi totaling 90. A sample of 40% or 36 firms was taken and a random stratified sampling technique was used to select the sample units. The study used primary data collected through using questionnaires as well as secondary data as a source of literature review. The data collected was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics. In particular, frequency tables and proportions or percentages were used. In addition factor analysis was used to supplement the descriptive statistics.
Results: Findings from factor analysis indicated that the factors affecting the supply of affordable residential housing in Nairobi could be reduced to a three factor model. Findings from the study indicated that upon calculation of the rotated factor loadings, the Eigen Values of the three factors were still greater than 1 and the three factors still explained 75.51% of the total variance. The Unrotated factor loadings gave a clear picture of the importance of the variables to the factors. It seemed from the study that Factor1 was mostly defined by "˜legal' variable, factor2 by "˜cost' variable, and factor3 by "˜financial', "˜socioeconomic' and "˜infrastructural' variables.
Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The study recommended that to address cost related constraints to the supply of affordable housing in Nairobi, the architectural community should engage in research on cheap building products. The government through the central government and through the newly created counties should make infrastructural investment a priority. The legal framework relating to housing needed to be overhauled by the introduction of a new act on housing. It was the responsibility of the government in collaboration with the private sector to ensure that the high level of unemployment was addressed, that the inflation rate was lowered to an acceptable level and that the economic growth was enhanced. It was important to increase the access of mortgages and housing finance products to both the banked and the unbanked. The factors affecting the demand of affordable residential housing in Nairobi and other urban areas would form an area of further study. In addition, the determinants of the prices of residential and non-residential houses in Nairobi would form an interesting study.
Downloads
References
Bellagio Study and Conference Center (2005).Setting the context: Kenya more than shelter housing as an instrument of economic and social development. A Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies International Housing Conference.
Darlington, R. B., Weinberg, S. L., & Walberg, H. J. (1973).Canonical variate analysis and related techniques. Review of Educational Research, 43(4), 433-454.
Gans, J., & King, S. (2003). Policy options for housing for low income households. Report to the Prime Minister's Home Ownership Taskforce.
Kothari, C. R. (2004). Reserach methodology: Methods & techniques, (2nded.).New Age International Publishers Ltd, Daryaganj, New Delhi.
Kumar, R. (2005). Research methodology: A step-by-step guide for beginners, (2nded.). Sage Publications, London. Thousand Oaks. New Delhi.
Mugenda, O. M. & Mugenda, A.G. (2003). Research methods: Quantitative and qualitative approaches (2nded.). Acts Press, Nairobi, Kenya
Olsen, E. O. (2001). Housing programs for low-income households. Working Paper, No.8208, NBER.
Oswald, A. (1998) "A conjecture on the explanation for high unemployment in industrialized nations", Paper presented to the Royal Economic Society's Annual Conference, University of Warwick, April 1.
Quigley, J. M. (2000). A decent home: Housing policy in perspective. Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs, 1 (1), pp.1-47.
Republic of Kenya, (2003).National Housing Development Programme 2003- 2007, Ministry of Roadsand Public Works, Nairobi.
Republic of Kenya, (2004). Sessional Paper No.3 on National Housing Policy for Kenya., ministry of Lands and Housing, Nairobi.
Rothenberg, J., Galster, G. C., Butler, R. V., & Pitkin, J. (1991).The maze of urban housing markets: Theory, evidence and policy, University of Chicago Press: Chicago.
Shitote et al. (2010).A precast concrete technology for affordable housing in Kenya.(Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Moi University).
Smith, L. B., Rosen, K. T., & Fallis, G.(1988). Recent developments in economic models of housing markets. Journal of Economic Literature, 26 (1), 29-64.
Souza, L. (2005). Housing policy in North America and Europe: Institutional analysis and welfare state regimes, United States, Canada Britain, Germany, France, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Italy and Greece. American Real Estate Society (ARES) Twenty - First ARES Annual Meeting Sante Fe, New Mexico.
Stiglitz, J. E., & Weiss, A. (1981).Credit rationing in markets with imperfect information. American Economic Review, 71(3), 393-410.
Tomlison, M. (2007). A literature review on housing finance development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Commissioned By FinMark Trust
Wafula, N. (2005). Affordable housing in Kenya: A case study of policy on informal settlements. 3rd FIG Regional Conference Jakarta, Indonesia, October 3-7, 2004
Wood, G. (2001). Promoting the supply of low-income rental housing. Urban Policy and Research, 19(4).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2017 John Mburu Mbuguah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
