Assessing the knowledge and attitude of housing developers towards mortgage financing in Uganda

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to assess the knowledge and attitude of housing developers towards mortgage financing in Uganda, using Bukoto Parish as a case study. The housing sector require mortgage financing which entails monthly repayment, initial payment, equity to debt, long maturity among others. The study employed stratified sampling techniques to draw a sample size of 100 respondents. Structured questionnaires were used as instruments of data collection to gather primary data from the respondents analyzed data was presented inform of tables, pie charts, percentages and bar graphs. SPSS Version 20.0, advanced MS Excel and KAP Survey Test were used to assess the knowledge and attitude of housing developers towards mortgage financing in Bukoto. In conclusion, research findings showed out that many housing developers are aware of mortgage financing but majority of them have a negative attitude towards mortgage financing due to the stringent terms and conditions from the financial institutions such as high interest rates, short payback period, strong collateral, high percentage of equity to debt required, all these factors deter their willingness to take up mortgages. And in addition, the study revealed that positive relationship exists between knowledge and attitude of housing developers and mortgage financing in Bukoto. The researcher recommends the government however to set up strict laws to protect housing developers from being exploited by commercial banks. The current mortgage Act should be reviewed and amended to offer more protection to the mortgagors that are currently being exploited by the banks.