Investigating the effect of the level of income on property acquisition within Kampala city
Abstract
Housing is among the essential needs for human beings, which also functions as a protection
and sustenance for household living. Housing choice is associated with some elements
influencing the decision-making for house acquisition, which varies for each individual. These
elements may include; house category, cost and distance from service and product facilities,
accessibility and open space. Other elements are convenient to access to public transport,
proximity to school and commercial space. This study investigates the effect of the levels of
income on property acquisition. Property acquisition, mainly in terms of residential housing
property, is either through construction of the house or purchase of the an already completed
house. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study and questionnaire sheets
were used as research instrument to collect data on selected homeowners and developers
basically in the five divisions of Kampala City that is; Nakawa, Kawempe, Makindye, Rubaga
and the Central division. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study established
that there was no significant relationship between the levels of income and the method of
housing property acquisition. The results show that individual within the income category of
10million – 30 million could decide to either purchase a house or construct one of their own.
During the study, it was still discovered that personal income is the major factor considered
while purchasing or constructing a residential property. Generally, the government and private
developers must identify primary elements influencing housing acquisition, prevent abandoned
projects, guarantee the successful operation of projects, and fulfill homeowner’s needs for the
long term.
Key words: Property acquisition, income category, residential housing