Influence of Design on Real Estate Inventories by Members of Kenya Property Developers’ Association in Nairobi County

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of design on Unsold New Houses held by members of the Kenya Property Developers Association (KPDA). The study adopted a positivist philosophy and descriptive correlational research design. The study population consisted of 4,085 unsold new houses, where a sample size of 364 units was drawn using a multistage random sampling technique. Property managers in this study were the units of observation; hence data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics focused on relative frequency distribution, means, and standard deviation. Inferential statistics included ordinal logistic regression to test hypotheses and one-way ANOVA to assess the differences between group means. The generalized ordinal logistic regression study results revealed that the design of the unsold new house explains 36% of the duration it remained unsold (r2 = 0.36). The findings further indicated that having other bedrooms ensuite (β = -1.548, p < 0.05), having a domestic servant's quarter (β = -1.888, p < 0.05), and having a swimming pool within the property development (β = -2.510, p < 0.05) were significant predictors of the duration of unsold new houses. The study concluded that the design of the unsold new house significantly influences the duration the house remained unsold. The study recommends that property developers should incorporate a swimming pool and domestic servant quarters in their development as well as having other bedrooms ensuite for houses with more than one bedroom.