Advance rent mobilisation strategies of graduate renters in Ghana: a submarket of the private rental housing market

The practice of advance rent, where landlords ask renters to pay a lump-sum rent covering 2 or more years, is gaining scholarly and political attention in Africa. Nevertheless, there is limited empirical research investigating how renters mobilize funds to meet this financial commitment. Existing literature suggests that renters, irrespective of their educational level, face difficulties in paying advance rent, hence compelling them to rely mainly on their bonding (family and friends) and bridging (employers and financial institutions) social capital to pay advance rent. Drawing on rational choice and social capital theories coupled with data from a novel (graduate) sub-market of Ghana’s rental housing market, this article finds that personal savings remain the most rational current and future source of funding options graduate renters draw upon to pay advance rent, albeit some still drawing on their social capital. The findings demonstrate that graduate renters do not use bonding social capital in their future mobilization strategies after they have drawn on the same in previous years, although they continue to rely on their bridging social capital and other strategies to mobilize funds for advance rent. The study suggests the need to rethink rational choice and social capital theories to incorporate inter-temporal dynamics among different social groups and to traverse the current binary conception of the rental housing market in Ghana to consider different sub-markets and how they respond to existing challenges in the housing sector.

Rental houses: History and contemporaneity

The topic of housing efficiency has always been among the priorities since the emergence of rental houses. However, in today's Russia, a multi-apartment residential building with collective forms of property is widely spread, which is a low-efficiency housing facility and definitely needs infrastructural improvement within the framework of the public-private entrepreneurship. The basis for this is the efforts of government agencies, which more and more often enter the rental housing market, creating competition for the shadow sector of rented apartments.

Investigating the impact of home-sharing on the traditional rental market

PurposeThe sharing economy has enjoyed rapid growth in recent years, and entered many traditional industries such as accommodation, transportation and lending. Although researchers in information systems and marketing have attempted to examine the impacts of the sharing economy on traditional businesses, they have not yet studied the rental housing market. Thus, this research aims to investigate the impact of the sharing economy (i.e. home-sharing) on traditional businesses (i.e. rental housing market).Design/methodology/approachThe authors assemble rich data from multiple sources about the entry of a leading Chinese home-sharing platform (i.e. Xiaozhu.com) and local housing rental price index. Then, econometric models (i.e. linear panel-level data models) are employed for empirical investigation. Instrumental variables are used to account for potential endogeneity issues. Various robustness checks are adopted to establish the consistency of the findings.FindingsOverall, the estimation results show that the entry of a home-sharing platform will decrease the local housing rental price. Moreover, this impact would be strengthened in a more developed city. Additionally, this impact would be strengthened with higher prices of new houses or second-hand houses.Originality/valueFirst, this research is one of the first to study the impact of the sharing economy (i.e. home-sharing) on traditional markets (i.e. housing rentals). Second, it contributes to the relevant literature by documenting that the impact of a platform's entry is not uniform but contingent on city and housing market characteristics. Third, practically, the findings also offer important implications for platform operators and policy makers.

The barriers faced by recent immigrant women in Hamilton and Toronto's rental housing markets

The overall purpose of this paper is to add to the existing body of literature on the housing situation and needs of recent immigrant households by placing the unique experiences of recent immigrant women at the centre of the study. It will begin with a review of the existing literature on immigration and housing, with a particular focus on the barriers facing newcomers in the rental housing market. Based on data from Statistics Canada, the Longitudinal Study of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), studies conducted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and interviews with persons with demonstrated knowledge of the barriers facing newcomer women searching for adequate, suitable and affordable housing, this paper aims to provide an overview of the difficulties that many newcomer women face in their search for and retention of housing in Hamilton and Toronto. It also includes a series of recommendations addressing some of these barriers.

The barriers faced by recent immigrant women in Hamilton and Toronto's rental housing markets

The overall purpose of this paper is to add to the existing body of literature on the housing situation and needs of recent immigrant households by placing the unique experiences of recent immigrant women at the centre of the study. It will begin with a review of the existing literature on immigration and housing, with a particular focus on the barriers facing newcomers in the rental housing market. Based on data from Statistics Canada, the Longitudinal Study of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), studies conducted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and interviews with persons with demonstrated knowledge of the barriers facing newcomer women searching for adequate, suitable and affordable housing, this paper aims to provide an overview of the difficulties that many newcomer women face in their search for and retention of housing in Hamilton and Toronto. It also includes a series of recommendations addressing some of these barriers.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Private Rental Housing Market in Poland: What Do Experts Say and What Do Actual Data Show?

The aim of the article is to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the level of housing rents using the example of the City of Krakow. This study is based on objective data on rental prices and subjective information obtained from real estate agents using a questionnaire survey. The research revealed that the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic actually led to a 6-7% decrease in prices in the rental market in Krakow, while at the same time the surveyed real estate agents had estimated that rents would drop by about 13%. With the second wave of the pandemic, it is possible to see that its immediate impact, i.e. between the third and fourth quarter of 2020, has led to a further 6.25% drop in rents. It should be noted that the latter decrease was very accurately predicted, both by the survey respondents and by the econometric models used. Finally, the results of the analysis also indicated that the worsening of the pandemic in the last quarter of 2020 will have a significant impact on rent levels in Krakow for all of next year. Regardless of how the economy develops, rental prices are forecast to fall further in 2021q1. However, in the subsequent quarters of 2021, rents are projected to increase, but ultimately their level will not return to pre-pandemic values even in 2021q4. The latter is likely to happen only in the second half of 2022.

Impact of Web Page House Listing Cues on Internet Rental

Based on a questionnaire survey combining the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) theory with the cues theory, this paper establishes hypotheses and uses partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) to study and analyse the impact of web page house listing cues on Internet rental from the perspective of users. The results indicate that: (1) the relevant cues of Internet renting platforms are effective and worthy of attention, (2) the subjective arousal of the tenants triggers their behavioural changes to a large extent, and (3) the sensitivity of the tenants’ behavioural approaches to their feelings is greater than their purchasing intentions. In the context of the rapid development of the online market, understanding the user's response to target information is essential to promote the optimisation of the Internet rental platform, to improve the efficiency of online housing selection, and to encourage healthy development of the rental housing market.