Real estate value as co-determinant of housing choice optimality: The Nigerian experience

Abstract

This paper examined the impact of real estate value as well as the impacts of 4 other pertinent variables (household income, commuting cost, workplace distance and household activity pattern) on housing choice optimality, HcO. Utilizing a sample of 107 purposively selected middle income households in Abuja and Minna, the study employed regression analysis to explore the intuition that real estate value is related to HcO. The results showed that the housing optimality model has a fair predictive explanation of approximately 57%-77% for the explanatory variables. Findings from the study also revealed that real estate value with the other variables influence housing choice optimality, although the magnitude of such influence varies across the two cities. As such, real estate value represents a burden which households must bear in order to secure the right to an apartment of choice. It is concluded that given the real estate value, the consequential housing choice optimality, could be predicted across different housing markets in Nigeria.