Invisible real estate agents and urban housing development on customary land in Papua New Guinea

Abstract

This paper discusses how urban households acquire land for housing in a country where virtually all land is held in customary ownership. Since no-one has the right to sell in customary ownership, households unable to acquire land through their “clan” have to obtain permission to use land belonging to other clans. This process has become increasingly commercialized, as some clans sub-divide and sell land use rights to nonclan members and become, in effect, major landlords. Although this process has become an important means by which low-income households acquire land for housing, it also remains informal and invisible. It is also controversial as many clan members disapprove of land being allocated to non-clan members and thus no longer available for present or future members of their own clan.