Factors affecting housing affordability in Kenya - case study of Mombasa County

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate factors affecting housing affordability in Kenya. Empirical aspects of the factors affecting housing affordability was looked into to inform on the problem of housing affordability in Kenya, specifically Mombasa County. The study objectives are: to examine the impact of government policies, or lack thereof, and how it affects buyers’ housing affordability prospects, to examine how cost of financing affects housing affordability, to investigate how housing input costs affects its affordability, and lastly, how the cost of land affects the value of houses to the buyers, hence affecting housing affordability to clients in Mombasa County and the Country at large. The research focused on affordability in the mortgage housing sector in Mombasa County by analyzing home-owners who acquired their homes through mortgage as well as those who are self/privately sponsored to own houses. Study methodology was based on stratified random sampling. Random sampling was utilized to administer questionnaires to households with mortgage loans from Housing Finance Institutions and Banks, as well as private home owners who did finance the housing costs on their own. A total target population 8000 households was targeted for the study with sample size of 381. Information relating to social-economic characteristics of the households, loan and property data as well as macroeconomic data were analyzed in order to address the objectives of the study. The analyses was done using qualitative and quantitative approaches with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and excel. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were performed with the aim of identifying factors which are significant influencers of housing affordability in the country. Majority of the respondents indicated that all the variables (government policies, cost of financing, housing input costs, and cost of land) affect housing affordability to the buyer in Mombasa. The study further recommends that county government ministry of planning should implement housing policies that boost the affordability of housing facilities