Abstract:
Policy debates have established that urbanization is an irreversible phenomenon
with more than undesirable externalities. The largest issue with urbanization,
though is that it has not kept up with the housing demands of city residents,
which has led to complaints about the lack of housing options in metropolitan
regions. The study aimed at examining the level of patronage of estate housing
development in Cape Coast, Ghana. The study used a cross-sectional design and
a mixed-method approach with both quantitative and qualitative data collected.
Simple random, convenient, and purposive sampling techniques were employed
in the study. In all, 444 participants comprising 312 household heads, and 132
of those who have expressed interest in the estate houses for the past five years
as well as 13 key informants were involved in the study. Rental apartment
patronage theoretical framework underpinned the study.
The study’s key findings are that, the institutional arrangement for estate
house development in Cape Coast is not the best. Inadequate support on the part
of the Government to both financial institutions and developers are among the
challenges that prevent proper estate housing development, thereby leading to
the low patronage of estate houses in Cape Coast, Ghana. Furthermore, the
interest of lenders in estate housing development is low due to factors such as
the unawareness of estate residents of the existence of mortgages in Cape Coast
and how it works, high-interest rates, and higher terms of conditions. It is
recommended that developers, lenders, and the Government should collaborate
to regulate the estate market in Cape Coast to ensure high patronage of estate
houses in the area. The study has however, increased our knowledge of the
variables that can influence consumers decision regarding estate home
deliveries (residential or office).
