Housing Expenditure and Income Inequality

The trend of rising income inequality in Germany since the mid-1990s is strongly amplified when considering income after housing expenditure. The income share of housing expenditure rose disproportionally for the bottom income quintile and fell for the top quintile. Factors contributing to these trends include declining relative costs of homeownership versus renting, changes in household structure, declining real incomes for low-income households, and residential mobility towards larger cities. Younger cohorts spend more on housing and save less than older cohorts did at the same age, which will affect future wealth accumulation, particularly at the bottom of the income distribution.

Housing Affordability In Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis Of Beneficiaries And Non-Beneficiaries Of Organized Private Sector Housing

Housing delivery in Nigeria has been dominated by the On-Site-Builders, each building incrementally as private individual for his household. The need to take advantage of economy of scale in housing delivery to enhance affordability led to the emergence of Organized Private Sector Housing Delivery in Nigeria. Despite this initiative, the majority of the people are not accessing housing from the Organized Private Sector Housing Developers, still employing their incremental housing approach. This study is therefore a comparative analysis of housing affordability of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of Organized Private Sector Housing Delivery in Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted. The respondents, beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries, were selected by systematic random sampling technique. Ten percent of beneficiaries’ household heads were selected from the occupied houses (19500) in the estates. The respondents among the non-beneficiaries were selected among the occupied housing units within 1km radius of the houses around each of the sampled estates until equal numbers of respondents from beneficiaries was selected, where possible. Thus, there were 1,950 and 1,332 number of respondents among beneficiaries and no-beneficiaries respectively. The structured questionnaire administered on the heads of households’ elicited information on demographic characteristics (age, sex, household size, etc) and housing affordability variables such as (household income, housing expenditure, access to mortgage, other non-housing expenditure, etc). The questionnaire administered on Organized Private Sector Housing Developers (OPSHDs) seeks information on types of houses produced, selling prices, sales terms, among others. We rely on affordability rating scale of: normal ≤30%; tolerable 30.1-50% and stressed ≥50% to measure and compare housing affordability of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. They study revealed that while about 42% of beneficiaries fall within normal housing affordability, about 76% of non-beneficiaries are in that category. About 37% of beneficiaries are in tolerable housing affordability category while only about 16% of non-beneficiaries are there. Those under varying degrees of housing affordability stress are about 21% and 8% among beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries respectively. The major policy implication of the findings is that direct support to non-beneficiaries – the On-Site-Builders by government, through serviced plots and mortgage facility may be a more veritable approach for resolving the current housing crisis in the country.

Housing Tenure Choice and Housing Affordability in Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis of Owners and Renters of Organized Private Sector Housing

Housing tenure choice is one key decision that a household must make. This decision has been established to have direct implications for household housing affordability. This research assessed and compared the housing affordability of owners and renters of organized Private Sector Housing delivery in Nigeria. Data were collected from eleven (11) states and the Federal Capital Territory across the six (6) geo-political zones of Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted with multi-stage sampling technique employed to select estates residents for interview. Structured questionnaire were administered on 10% (1,950) heads of households randomly selected from all the occupied houses. The study revealed that 48% of the residents were owners and 52% renters. It was discovered that more owners than renters are under severe housing affordability stress/burden. While 29% of owners enjoy “normal housing affordability” (housing expenditure of 1% - 30%), 41% of renters enjoyed such. Also, while 36% of owners enjoyed “tolerable housing affordability” (30.1% - 50% housing expenditure), 41% of the renters fall within that range. Furthermore, while 35% of owners are theoretically under severe housing affordability stress/burden (with >50% housing expenditure), only 18% of the renters are. The study confirmed that renters enjoyed better housing affordability than the owners. Major policy implications include the need for housing policy and delivery in Nigeria to recognize and facilitate rental housing while steps should be taken to relieve the burden of home ownership by working on mortgage penetration, cost of building materials and other incidental expenses of ownership so as to enhance housing affordability of Nigerians.

Homeownership status and risk of food insecurity: examining the role of housing debt, housing expenditure and housing asset using a cross-sectional population-based survey of Canadian households

Background Household food insecurity is a potent marker of material deprivation with adverse health consequences. Studies have repeatedly found a strong, independent relationship between owning a home and lower vulnerability to food insecurity in Canada and elsewhere, but the reasons for this relationship are poorly understood. We aimed to examine the influence of housing asset, housing debt and housing expenditure on the relationship between homeownership status and food insecurity in Canada. Methods Cross-sectional data on food insecurity, housing tenure and expenditures, home value, income and sociodemographic characteristics were derived from the 2010 Survey of Household Spending, a population-based survey. Multivariable logistic regression models were conducted to estimate odds ratios of food insecurity among households of all incomes (n = 10,815) and those with lower incomes (n = 5547). Results Food insecurity prevalence was highest among market renters (28.5%), followed by homeowners with a mortgage (11.6%) and mortgage-free homeowners (4.3%). Homeowners with a mortgage (OR: 0.51, 95% CI: 0.39–0.68) and those without a mortgage (OR: 0.23, 95% CI: 0.16–0.35) had substantially lower adjusted odds of food insecurity than market renters, and accounting for the burden of housing cost had minimal impact on the association. Mortgage-free homeowners had lower adjusted odds ratios of food insecurity compared to homeowners with a mortgage, but differences in the burden of housing cost fully accounted for the association. When stratifying homeowners based on presence of mortgage and housing asset level, the adjusted odds ratios of food insecurity for market renters were not significant when compared to mortgage holders with low housing asset. Mortgage-free owners with higher housing asset were least vulnerable to food insecurity (adjusted OR: 0.18, 95% CI: 0.11–0.27). Conclusions Substantial disparities in food insecurity exist between households with different homeownership status and housing asset level. Housing policies that support homeownership while ensuring affordable mortgages may be important to mitigate food insecurity, but policy actions are required to address renters’ high vulnerability to food insecurity.

Tracking job and housing dynamics with smartcard data

Residential locations, the jobs–housing relationship, and commuting patterns are key elements to understand urban spatial structure and how city dwellers live. Their successive interaction is important for various fields including urban planning, transport, intraurban migration studies, and social science. However, understanding of the long-term trajectories of workplace and home location, and the resulting commuting patterns, is still limited due to lack of year-to-year data tracking individual behavior. With a 7-y transit smartcard dataset, this paper traces individual trajectories of residences and workplaces. Based on in-metro travel times before and after job and/or home moves, we find that 45 min is an inflection point where the behavioral preference changes. Commuters whose travel time exceeds the point prefer to shorten commutes via moves, while others with shorter commutes tend to increase travel time for better jobs and/or residences. Moreover, we capture four mobility groups: home mover, job hopper, job-and-residence switcher, and stayer. This paper studies how these groups trade off travel time and housing expenditure with their job and housing patterns. Stayers with high job and housing stability tend to be home (apartment unit) owners subject to middle- to high-income groups. Home movers work at places similar to stayers, while they may upgrade from tenancy to ownership. Switchers increase commute time as well as housing expenditure via job and home moves, as they pay for better residences and work farther from home. Job hoppers mainly reside in the suburbs, suffer from long commutes, change jobs frequently, and are likely to be low-income migrants.