Income and wealth in house ownership studies in urban Ghana
- 1 January 1997
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Housing Studies
- Vol. 12 (1) , 111-126
- https://doi.org/10.1080/02673039708720885
Abstract
Housing supply studies are frequently concerned with characteristics such as income which might distinguish those households who supply housing, by having new houses built or by extending, from those who do not. In a study of housing supply in three urban centres in Ghana, this paper considers various measures of income and wealth as determinant variables for housing supply among a sample of 1600 comprising renters, recent builders, recent extenders, and established owners who have not recently extended. In addition to measures of income and expenditure, a relative wealth index is constructed from data on the possession of consumer durables. In ordering the four groups according to income or wealth, it was found that the per capita measures were inversely related to those at household level but otherwise each gave a similar order. Recent builders tend to be wealthier than long‐standing owners, as expected, but this changes markedly if inheritors are removed. Extenders do not appear to differ markedly from non‐extenders. In a digression, it is found that inheritance appears to redistribute housing goods down the income scale.Keywords
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