Assessing the impact of demographic factors on housing affordability in Entebbe Municipality
Abstract
Housing represents the largest single life time investment to most individuals. However, others will see the importance of housing as a shelter and to fulfill their fundamental needs only. In Uganda, investment in housing has been a major sector that is attracting many potential investors contributing 11% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Housing market has been booming in Uganda in the past decade and it continues to boom. However, demand and supply for housing continues to pose a great challenge in the country particularly in urban areas due to urbanization. The high demand for housing against a background of limited supply has resulted into deplorable shelter conditions. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of demographic factors on affordable housing in Entebbe Municipality using Katabi – Busambaga village as a case study. The study was guided by the following specific objectives, to establish how income level, the level of education, the number of household and age distribution of the population influences affordable housing in Katabi – Busambaga village. This study employed descriptive research design. The target population of this study was home owners and renters in Katabi – Busambaga village. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents. The study relied mostly on primary data sources where self- administered questionnaire was utilized as a source of data. Secondary data was obtained through government reports, various working and discussion papers, journals and articles on housing. A total of 115 questionnaires were returned. Data collected for this study was purely quantitative. Quantitative data was coded and entered into MS. Excel and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings were presented in form of frequency tables, cross tabulation and explanation is provided in the prose. The study found that there was a significant correlation between demographic factors in determining affordable housing within Katabi – Busambaga village. Demographic factors such as the level of income, level of education, age profile have a significant impact on determining housing affordability price level. Rent was found to be relatively affordable for all categories of housing units. This study also disclosed that affordable housing rent per month in the study area was not more than UGX 300,000 per unit. The average income earned by most of the respondents is less than UGX 1,000,000 per month. Besides, people’s preference was more focused on semi-detached and detached houses.