Private Housing Development Research Articles

Strategic easing of height restrictions: Unveiling the intersection of free market principles and colonial mentality in Hong Kong’s urban densification

ABSTRACT High-density housing development is considered a pragmatic response to the conflicts between land scarcity and population growth. Under the rhetoric of (neo)liberalism, the flourishing private housing market narrative was anchored throughout the last century, along with significant contributions from government regulations. The 1955 Buildings Ordinance, which eased height limits, laid the groundwork for Hong Kong’s high-density foundations. The existing historiographical literature examines this from a technical perspective. However, it overlooks the decision-making processes behind these regulations and their alignment with or deviation from free market principles. This study examines colonial archives to scrutinize the colonial government’s approach to building regulations, revealing that easing height restrictions was not merely a technical adjustment but a calculated response to broader economic and demographic challenges. It was a strategy to stimulate private housing development and manage population growth without significantly increasing government spending. This raises concerns regarding prevailing assumptions that the colonial government supported a free-market approach to housing rather than exploring the debates and deliberations that shaped these policies. By comparing colonial experiences in Hong Kong and London, historical analysis challenges the conventional understanding of Hong Kong’s urban development, thereby highlighting the contentious relationship between liberal economic policies and the colonial administrative framework.

Tokyo’s urban tree challenge: Decline in tree canopy cover in Tokyo from 2013 to 2022

The important contributions of urban trees and green spaces to climate moderation, disaster mitigation, and public health have been widely recognized. Tree canopy cover is one of the simplest proxies for assessing the extent of urban forests and their associated benefits. Many cities are targeting increases in the extent of their urban canopies as a means of mitigating the impact of urbanization and climate change. This is the first study to examine the spatiotemporal changes in tree canopy cover over 9 years from 2013 to 2022 in the 23 wards of Tokyo, Japan. It aims to clarify the main spatiotemporal characteristics of urban tree cover. We extracted tree canopy cover from satellite imagery using object-based image analysis incorporating land-use data. Topography, historical green spaces, and social geography have variously influenced the distribution of tree cover among Tokyo’s 23 wards. Tree canopy cover declined by 1.9% from 9.2% in 2013 to 7.3% in 2022. Tree cover loss amounted to 38.0% on public land and 57.0% on private land. The highest percentage of tree cover loss occurred in residential areas: single-family houses (39.8%), followed by roads (14.7%), educational and cultural facilities (10.8%), and parks (10.4%). The main factors responsible for tree cover loss are private housing developments, urban redevelopments, and the removal of trees in parks, along streets, and in educational and cultural facilities. Tokyo is currently facing significant challenges related to tree cover loss and it is crucial to integrate urban forestry into the urban planning framework.

Assessment of Labor Management Practices in Private Group Housing Developers in Kathmandu Valley

The construction industry is known for its labor-intensive nature, and companies must maintain high labor management standards to complete projects within time and budget. However, challenges related to labor management are common in the industry and can negatively impact project delivery times and costs. In Nepal, housing developers face the issue of not delivering projects on time, leading to increased costs. This study explores the current labor management practices, challenges, and remedial measures in the construction industry of Nepal, with a focus on housing developers in the Kathmandu Valley. The study collected data from 17 building projects using interviews and questionnaires and analyzed the data using the Relative Importance Index (RII) and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient. The findings indicate that labor management issues, including poor communication, planning, inadequate wages, occupational health and safety, labor policy, and unfair treatment, are major challenges faced by housing developers in Nepal. The study recommends implementing better employee staffing, performance evaluation, work environment, training, and compensation management to address these challenges. The results of this study offer insight into current labor management practices and potential solutions for housing developers in Nepal, contributing to the overall success of construction projects. Proper labor management can result in substantial savings in time and cost for construction projects, making this study relevant and valuable to researchers and practitioners in the construction industry. The findings of this research could have important implications for private housing developers in Nepal, as well as for the broader housing sector in developing countries facing similar challenges.

Analysis of Selected Macroeconomic Variables and Property Development in Kwara State, Nigeria: Implications on Investment Decisions

The widening gap between housing need and supply has created a void for private developers to fill in housing delivery in Nigeria. However, the uncertainty and instability of the economy across countries of the world as indicated by macroeconomic variables appears very important to be considered. Thus, the study's objective was to evaluate the effect of macroeconomic variables on private residential property development in Ilorin, Kwara state, Nigeria, for investment decision making. This study focused on three macroeconomic variables which include GDP, Interest rate and Inflation rate.
 The research utilized both primary and secondary data. The primary data were collected via structured questionnaires administered on Real Estate Development Association Practitioners (REDAN) in Ilorin, Kwara State. The secondary data which include GDP, Interest rate and Inflation rate from 2010 to 2020 was also obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS). The information obtained were analyzed using Trend analysis and multiple regressions. Trend analysis aimed at projecting macroeconomic movement from 2010 to 2030, while the multiple regressions was used to investigate the effects of macroeconomic variables on private housing development in Ilorin Metropolis.
 The result of the analysis revealed among others that macroeconomic variables affect property development as they show significant effect on private residential property development with GDP producing positive significant effect on residential property development, while interest rate and inflation rate have negative significant effect on property development.
 Therefore, this study recommends that real estate investors in Ilorin metropolis should consider the macroeconomic environment, and evaluate their risk exposure to make informed investment decisions.

‘Where there is fish, is where I put my head’: Challenges of mobile fishers in Elmina fishing community in Ghana

Small‐scale fisheries are crucial for improving livelihoods by providing fisher employment, and food security. As part of their work, fishers frequently move to different fishing communities to catch and trade in fish. This paper analyses the living circumstances of artisanal fishers and discusses their mobility patterns, lodging arrangements, and the difficulties they encounter as they carry out their work. This paper is based on a study that involved 385 artisanal fishers in the fishing community of Elmina in the Komenda Edina Equafo Abirem (KEEA) Municipality in the Central Region of Ghana. The results show that there are not many suitable places to stay for fishers when they travel from home to other fishing locations, and the few places that do offer affordable lodging also lack toilets, bathrooms and drinkable water. The paper also reflects on the gendered dynamics of these and related issues of insecurity for women in this case study. District authorities whose economies are heavily dependent on fishing ought to collaborate with private housing developers and the state to build affordable lodging facilities with standard household amenities like water, toilets and baths in fishing destinations to address the housing issues faced by fishers while travelling.

Editorial JARER Volume 7 Issue 2

Editorial Welcome to Volume 7 (2022), Issue 2 of the Journal of African Real Estate Research (JARER). JARER has been providing valuable resources and continues to be an exciting outlet for authors across Africa to propagate the results of their research activities. The journal has been strengthened and continues to grow in leaps and bounds. We are happy to inform our stakeholders that, JARER has been approved to be listed in the Directory of Open Access Journal (DOAJ) as from January, 2023. This is in addition to being recognised as meeting acceptable quality and listed in the 2021 American Real Estate Society’s (ARES) Real Estate Journal List. The list can be found at: https://www.aresnet.org/page/journal-list. We are not unaware that these achievements cannot be made possible without the efforts and support of the journal editorial board members, our anonymous reviewers and other stakeholders. Our gratitude therefore goes to them and all others stakeholders, including the African Real Estate Society’s board members, the team and colleagues at the Library services at the University of Cape Town, and the Journal Manager, Ms Lesedi Kgaka, who has been working diligently in managing the journal’s operations and at ensuring that the journal is moved forward to an enviable height. We will continue to appreciate the support from Prof. Karl-Werner Schulte and his team from the IREBS at Regensburg University, the IRES, and ERES. The journal’s qualities of review and thoroughness, no doubt, have improved tremendously, even though this has increased the rate of paper rejection, in the recent past. This explains why the current issue contains four papers with focus on private housing development, property rating valuation, price volatility in the stock market and void management strategies in multi-tenanted office property. This first paper examines the factors that influence access to urban land for private housing development in Minna, Nigeria. A total of 18 variables were distilled from previous empirical studies which were analysed using factor analysis technique. The results indicate that land titling, socio-economic characteristics of the populace and land acquisition issues were the main factors affecting urban land accessibility for private housing development. The study concludes that stakeholders in land administration and management in the city should work on these factors to improve access to land for private housing development. The second paper examines the volatility of the daily market price of listed property stocks on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) for a 10-year period (2008-2017). The study used daily prices from January 2, 2008, to December 29, 2017, of twelve quoted property companies out of the twenty-seven listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (SA REIT Association, 2020). The study modelled SA-REIT market price volatility using generalised autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH 1, 1). The result implies that investment in the property stock market is strongly driven by positive news on daily prices than a negative shock. The study thus concludes that South African property investors are more sensitive and exhibit a sharp response to good news on the daily market price than bad news when thinking of investing in listed property company shares. The focus of third paper is an investigation of the causes of variance in assessed rateable values among property rating valuers. Qualitative data were obtained from valuers and content analysis was carried out to analyse the data. Findings showed that specialisation, valuers' opinion on the rating valuation input variables, lack of due diligence, corruption, the ambiguity of the rating law, information in the tone–of–the–list, lack of proper sanction and gratification by ratepayers are some of the causes of variance in rateable value. The conclusion drawn centres on the need to correct the identified problems causing variance in rating valuation with a view to ensuring effective rating administration. The fourth paper assesses void management strategies adopted by Estate Surveying firms in multi-tenanted office properties in Lagos, Nigeria. Data obtained were analysed using frequency table, mean, mean deviation and mean ranking. The study found that void eradication strategies of adherence to vacation clauses and regular advertisement were the most frequently used strategies. The paper concludes that choice of void management strategies in multi-tenanted office properties depends on the cost involved and effectiveness of the strategies. Thank you for your continued interest in JARER. I look forward to receiving your feedback on this and previous issues of the journal. Prof. Abel Olaleye Editor-in-Chief

Magnifying the Terrace: David Saunders and the Cross Street Co-Operative Housing Development

ABSTRACT This paper traces the influence that pioneering Australian architectural historian David Saunders (1928–1986) exerted over the development of the University of Melbourne’s Cross Street Co-operative Housing Development in Carlton designed by Earle, Shaw & Partners (1970–1971). Cross Street is one of a number of public–private medium-density housing developments that were constructed on large sites resumed by the Housing Commission of Victoria after World War II. While the Housing Commission was demolishing large areas of inner Melbourne for tabula rasa high-rise modernist development, Saunders argued for the retention, adaptation, and acculturation of urban form, exemplified in the house he and architect wife Doreen designed for themselves in Parkville (1962). Saunders took an active role in commissioning Cross Street and his influence meant that it became the first large-scale urban project in Australia that consciously articulated an understanding of its historic environment. The project demonstrates many of his key urban ideas such as the importance of the nineteenth-century terrace form and shared pedestrianised spaces. This paper argues that the project presaged the so-called rediscovery of the city in Australia, emerged amidst the rise of local architectural history as a discipline, heritage activism, and an institution positioning itself for expansion.

Capacity of Public-Private Collaborations to Incorporate Sustainable Business Models for Housing Development in Sweden: A Resilience Perspective

Moving toward social and ecological sustainable business models requires collaborations in housing development. However, collaborations today between public and private housing developers are often the subject of criticism in terms of their sustainability efforts. One way of moving forward for these collaborations is to consider resilience as a desired property for sustainable business models. Thus, guided by a resilience perspective, semi-structured interviews have been conducted and secondary data has been collected to depict the barriers and enablers for public-private collaborations to move toward resilience and truly sustainable business models. The results reveal that barriers are development costs, knowledge, stepwise processes, and different perspectives, meanwhile enablers are knowledge transfer, trust, clear roles and agendas, win-win, instruments/incentives, and sustainability leadership. To overcome the barriers and leverage the enablers identified, resilience attributes such as knowledge transfer, social capital, space for disturbance, diverse forms of governance, and knowledge about sustainability need to be understood and applied to achieve sustainable business models in public-private collaborations.

Factors Influencing Access to Urban Land for Private Housing Development in Minna, Nigeria

Land is a major factor of production and a vital asset in the socio-economic development of any country or society. Due to the continuous increase in urban population, resulting in rapid urbanisation, access to urban land has become a challenge in Minna. This paper examines the factors that influence access to urban land for private housing development in the city. The study adopted descriptive and causal research designs. Data for the study were obtained from field survey through structured questionnaire administered to private housing developers in the study area using simple random sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. The study found that titling and locational factors, socio-economic factors, procedural bottlenecks, land condition and accessibility are the significant factors that drive access to land for private housing development in the city. It recommends that stakeholders in land administration and management in the city should consider these factors in the land administration system to facilitate private developers’ access to land for private housing development in the city.

북한의 주택배정제도와 비공식 주택시장 발전의 제한성*

The housing policy under Kim Jong-un’s regime is characterized as a political project to stabilize and strengthen the personal dictatorship, due to the following three reasons. First, the housing allocation system composed of three special allocation modes (SAMs) and one general allocation mode (GAM) is arranged hierarchically according to the relative degree of political allegiance and functional necessity for the regime. SAMs serve to enhance the security of the regime. GAMs play roles as a social security apparatus. Second, public housing construction projects in themselves are utilized as ‘political works’ to strengthen the social cohesion of the cadres-masses relations and enhance the cadres’ allegiance to the regime. Third, the regime uses the double strategy to control the unofficial housing market (IHM), The regime connives at the illegality of the private housing construction (PHC) in order to increase the housing provision while intervening IHM to suppress the potential threat to the regime with several means, such as denial of property rights associated with a house traded through an unofficial housing market, control of PHC, supply of the public housing by the government and severe punishments of private housing developers. In view of these characteristics, it is said that Kim’s regime controls the housing provision system to induce the people

Lean-offsite-simulation nexus for housing construction: a state-of-the-art review of the existing knowledge

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to present an overview of the existing knowledge on the combined application of lean, off-site and simulation (LOS) in housing delivery.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review approach was adopted. Based on a comprehensive search using Scopus, Web of Science and the International Group for Lean Construction databases, 66 relevant journal articles were identified and analysed.FindingsThis study found that the most significant impacts of the combined application of LOS in housing delivery are the capacity to visualise the production processes as a whole in real time, exposure and removal of non-value-adding activities from the production and faster delivery. However, the combined application of LOS is low compared to a single application of each technique in housing delivery.Practical implicationsThe results provide relevant stakeholders and actors in the housing sector (private and public housing developers, off-site housing manufacturers and constructors, housing associations and government housing agencies, among others) with the information needed to improve the outcomes of housing delivery through the application of LOS.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the ongoing debate on addressing the global housing shortage by presenting an integrated overview of the existing knowledge on the impact of the nexus of LOS and providing compelling evidence for its usage in housing delivery. It also demonstrates how the combined application of LOS supports the achievement of the flow and value view in the transformation flow value model, which was not previously reported.

Energy Sustainable House: A Case study and validation through Revit

Reducing carbon footprints and adopting green energy sources is the need of modern time. Green sources of energy need to find preference over traditional sources. Unconventional sources of energy like solar, wind are alternatives of traditional energy sources. Lack of awareness, high initial investment and lack of government incentive are few challenges in adoption of green sources of energy in housing sector, especially in developing economies. Construction, design and aesthetics of traditional residential building have a significant effect on energy consumption and environment. Town planners, private housing developers and individual house owners have to become aware and adopt the non-traditional sources of energy like solar energy for meeting their daily need of energy. An energy sustainable house has minimum dependency on traditional sources of energy like coal based thermal power plants. For moving a step closer to energy sustainable building, in this research paper authors have studied the design, energy consumption and transformation of energy dependencies on roof top solar plant of a residential building by situation actor process & learning action performance (SAP-LAP) methodology. Further authors tried to validate the observations and findings of study by energy balance analysis of the same residential building by Autodesk Revit software. Studying the economical aspect of current case authors observed that the case house got 60% saving in monthly electricity bill after installing rooftop solar power plant and payback period of total investment on solar power plant is 6.5 to 7 years only.

Tools for Making a Decision at the Planning Phase of Housing Development Project

Literature discovered that the selection of the right tool affects the decision-making process at the planning phase of housing development project. Imprecise decision-making are capable of generating big threat to project completion. Therefore, the adoption of the right tool by decision makers are compulsory to prevent the occurrence of any difficulties on the final stage of the project. The objective of this research is to define the decision-making tool applied at the planning phase of housing development project in Malaysia. A total of 80 sets of structured questionnaires were distributed to the private housing developers in Malaysia and out of 67 were found usable after data screening. The descriptive statistical analysis and the correlated analysis are conducted in this study aided by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The results of this study show that most of the Malaysian private housing developers applied potential analysis, comparison analysis, economic analysis, feasibility study and 4P’s analysis as tools when making a decision at the planning phase of housing development project. Hence, this paper is supposed to lead the potential private housing developers along with the governments by providing a number of tools in making decisions at the planning phase of housing development project in Malaysia.

Neoliberalism and neo-dirigisme in action: The state–corporate alliance and the great housing rush of the 2000s in Istanbul, Turkey

This paper foregrounds the state–corporate alliance in real estate development in Istanbul since the early 2000s. Employing a geo-coded sample of 294 private housing development projects built since the early 1980s and in-depth interviews with the private development companies, the paper focuses on how the construction industry and the massive commodification of urban land produced a new state–space nexus. The underlying question here is the nascent shape of urban political-economy, the trends of housing construction, the cycles of boom and bust and the mechanisms of capital accumulation concerning the state’s centralising control over space. In this sample, a few critical aspects of the production of concrete space became apparent. Seven findings are discussed. First, the developers of Istanbul followed the clientelistic patterns in the urban built environment. The second aspect is that the state is the sole supply-side actor that determines Istanbul’s built environment. The third point in this analysis of urban development initiated by the private sector is focused on the fact that the real estate speculation is state-led. The fourth and fifth points are related to the Turkish real estate developers’ inability to procure financing for the duration of the construction process. The sixth factor in the evaluation of the private real estate sector in Istanbul is the geographical and class dispersal of active development projects. The seventh factor in understanding those real estate developers is their novel approach to marketing and advertisement and the way they employ architecture as an extension of public relations.

Decision-Making Method Employed at Construction Planning Phase of Housing Development

A correct decision made by decision-makers, at the planning phase, determines the success of a housing development project. Detailed decision supporting data is needed to provide specific guidance to private housing developers. The purpose of this paper is to define a decision-making method to be employed at the construction planning phase of a housing development project in Malaysia. Survey method is implemented using a questionnaire that was distributed to 67 private housing developers. The collected data was then analysed via Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software. The outcomes of the analysis show that for Malaysian private housing developers, discussion and market/economic report are the most important methods that are applied while making a decision for a housing development project. Thus, this paper is supposed to guide private housing developers as well as governments in making decisions at the construction planning phase of housing development projects in Malaysia.

Relocating home activities: spatial experiments in Malaysian apartment houses to accommodate the vernacular lifestyle

ABSTRACT To cope with the fast urbanisation and population growth, the public and private sector housing developments in Kuala Lumpur have prioritised the high-rise apartment building. After decades’ massive development, this housing type became the most dominant dwelling form in the city. For centuries, the traditional Malay house has evolved to suit to the vernacular lifestyle, but now the urban life mandates that people adapt themselves to this alien concrete house. This paper investigated the hidden cultural link between these two seemingly different house forms. Using graph-theoretic methods, we traced how old domestic activities were transferred to the modern housing and revealed how the old spatial order of front/back and high/low distinctions could be re-configured inside the high-rise apartment housing in a creative way by Malaysian architects. There have been frictions and compromises between the past and present, but the outcomes of this research clearly indicate that there exists a cultural DNA of Malay housing that guides the whole process of housing evolution.

Urban regulation and diverse housing supply: An Investigative Panel

This research examined the barriers and challenges within the housing system for delivering housing supply that is more diverse in terms of size and built form; tenure; development model; and affordability level.

Challenges of Students Housing Provision in Malaysia

The world population has been growing tremendously, which surged up the demand and enrolment in educational institutions to unimaginable level globally. Similarly, Malaysia has witnessed tremendous growth in higher education both in the order and establishment of new higher education institutions (HEIs) to match up with the demand. However, there is no commensurate increase in the student housing facilities to match up with the growing enrolment and demand; hence, accommodate a certain proportion of the total students. The paper explored qualitative methodology data from in-depth expert interviews of selected public and private universities in Malaysia; discussed the problems of HEIs student housing provision to four identified themes: student enrolment, government policy, funding and land issues as what exacerbated the issues. Therefore, challenges for student housing provision are enormous; hence HEIs and Government cannot adequately respond and satisfy the demand unless private housing developers actively involved otherwise problems of student housing provision will continue to persist.

Housing Supply Vs. Affordability: Who Can Afford The Private Housing Schemes In Aden (Yemen) ?

Since the early 1990s, the housing affordability issue has been the main concern of the majority of the urban sector in Aden . The urban sector before unification were benefited from the welfare housing system and paid only nominal rents . They were unaccustomed to home purchase . After unification in 1990 . however , the government decided to terminate the previous welfare housing allocation system . Housing supply , therefore was dominated by the private sector . The urban sector was forced to enter the market for housing service provision . There is a changing housing price-to-income ratio ( PIR ) since 1990 . The rapid increase of house prices has eroded the capability for homeownership . As a result , affordable private housing have experienced higher demand pressure . Without additional residential supply , demand will pull the price up and , therefore , reduce the amount of affordable accommodation . This paper will discuss : The current housing situation regarding housing policy evolution in Aden . Housing affordability definition and housing affordability barriers by reference to current literature. A model of housing affordability will be set to examine the affordability of housing schemes provided by private housing developers In this paper , it is not attempted to present a prescription for problem remedy . Nonetheless, identification and developing under standing of the affordable informing policy and practice

Root cause approach to explore policy options for improving low-cost housing provision in Malaysia

ABSTRACT Since 1982, the Malaysian Government and private housing developers have been providing low-cost housing (LCH) yet the scarcity of houses is on the increase. This paper investigates the root cause and explores possible policy options for improving Malaysian LCH provision via an unexplored dimension. First, findings from the oral interviews via qualitative approach were tested and analysed at the quantitative phase. The ‘quantilised findings’ were further validated by the Malaysian LCH policymakers. Findings confirm lax state LCH policy across the states. The study found lack of data sharing, some developers evade construction of LCH, relaxed state policy that allows developers to construct LCH, among others as the root cause of lax state LCH policy. The study proffered some recommendations and this will bring to the front burner new openings such as cumulative ruling, joint task force, among others for further study as part of the theoretical contribution to knowledge advancement.