IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/landec/v88y2012ii1p251-274.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Living Conditions, Rents, and Their Determinants in the Slums of Nairobi and Dakar

Author

Listed:
  • Sumila Gulyani
  • Ellen M. Bassett
  • Debabrata Talukdar

Abstract

Using data from 3,715 slum households in Nairobi and Dakar, we find living conditions for tenants are worse than for owners, although tenants pay significant rents. Compared to Nairobi, both nominal rents and living conditions are higher in Dakar. Despite differences in respective slum rental markets, determinants of rent in both cities are strikingly similar. Analysis suggests that tenure mix—proportion of tenants to owners—affects what is available for rent and overall living conditions. Ensuring a certain proportion of housing is owner occupied may be instrumental for delivering greater choice for tenants and better living conditions for all slum residents.

Suggested Citation

  • Sumila Gulyani & Ellen M. Bassett & Debabrata Talukdar, 2012. "Living Conditions, Rents, and Their Determinants in the Slums of Nairobi and Dakar," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(2), pages 251-274.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:landec:v:88:y:2012:ii:1:p:251-274
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://le.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/88/2/251
    Download Restriction: A subscripton is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James R. Follain & Emmanuel Jimenez, 1985. "The Demand for Housing Characteristics in Developing Countries," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 22(5), pages 421-432, October.
    2. Goodman, John Jr. & Ittner, John B., 1992. "The accuracy of home owners' estimates of house value," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 339-357, December.
    3. Alan Gilbert, 1992. "Third World Cities: Housing, Infrastructure and Servicing," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 29(3-4), pages 435-460, May.
    4. Stephen Malpezzi & J. Sa‐Aadu, 1996. "What Have African Housing Policies Wrought?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 24(2), pages 133-160.
    5. Jimenez, Emmanuel & Keare, Douglas H., 1984. "Housing consumption and permanent income in developing countries: Estimates from panel data in El Salvador," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 172-194, March.
    6. Rakodi, Carole, 1992. "Housing markets in third world cities: Research and policy into the 1990s," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 39-55, January.
    7. Jha, Saumitra & Rao, Vijayendra & Woolcock, Michael, 2007. "Governance in the Gullies: Democratic Responsiveness and Leadership in Delhi's Slums," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 230-246, February.
    8. Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Quintana-Domeque, Climent, 2009. "The reliability of self-reported home values in a developing country context," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 311-324, December.
    9. Kathy J. Hayes & Lori L. Taylor, 1996. "Neighborhood school characteristics: what signals quality to homebuyers?," Economic and Financial Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, issue Q IV, pages 2-9.
    10. Cotton, Jeremiah, 1988. "On the Decomposition of Wage Differentials," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 70(2), pages 236-243, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Joshi, Nupur & Gerlak, Andrea K. & Hannah, Corrie & Lopus, Sara & Krell, Natasha & Evans, Tom, 2023. "Water insecurity, housing tenure, and the role of informal water services in Nairobi’s slum settlements," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    2. Johan Mottelson, 2020. "A New Hypothesis on Informal Land Supply, Livelihood, and Urban Form in Sub-Saharan African Cities," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(11), pages 1-22, November.
    3. William F. Vásquez & Laura Beaudin, 2020. "On the use of hypothetical price data to estimate hedonic models in a developing country context," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 219-231, December.
    4. Talukdar, Debabrata, 2018. "Cost of being a slum dweller in Nairobi: Living under dismal conditions but still paying a housing rent premium," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 42-56.
    5. Nakamura, Shohei & Avner, Paolo, 2021. "Spatial distributions of job accessibility, housing rents, and poverty: The case of Nairobi," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    6. Andrea Rigon, 2014. "Building Local Governance: Participation and Elite Capture in Slum-upgrading in Kenya," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 45(2), pages 257-283, March.
    7. World Bank, 2013. "Africa Development Indicators 2012/13," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13504.
    8. Gulyani, Sumila & Talukdar, Debabrata & Bassett, Ellen M., 2018. "A sharing economy? Unpacking demand and living conditions in the urban housing market in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 57-72.
    9. Goytia, Cynthia & Heikkila, Eric J. & Pasquini, Ricardo A., 2023. "Do land use regulations help give rise to informal settlements? Evidence from Buenos Aires," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    10. Sheillah Simiyu & Mark Swilling & Richard Rheingans & Sandy Cairncross, 2017. "Estimating the Cost and Payment for Sanitation in the Informal Settlements of Kisumu, Kenya: A Cross Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, January.
    11. Tidwell, James B. & Terris-Prestholt, Fern & Quaife, Matthew & Aunger, Robert, 2019. "Understanding demand for higher quality sanitation in peri-urban Lusaka, Zambia through stated and revealed preference analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 139-147.
    12. Libertun de Duren, Nora Ruth, 2020. "Effects of neighborhood upgrading programs on domestic violence in Bolivia," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 19(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael Jacobs & William D. Savedoff, 1999. "There's More Than One Way to Get a House: Housing Strategies in Panama," Research Department Publications 4156, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    2. Monkkonen, Paavo, 2016. "Where do Property Rights Matter More? Explaining the Variation in Demand for Property Titles across Cities in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 67-78.
    3. Alla Koblyakova & Larisa Fleishman & Orly Furman, 2022. "Accuracy of Households’ Dwelling Valuations, Housing Demand and Mortgage Decisions: Israeli Case," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 48-74, July.
    4. Michael Jacobs & William D. Savedoff, 1999. "Hay más de una manera de obtener vivienda: estrategias de vivienda en Panamá," Research Department Publications 4157, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    5. Gulyani, Sumila & Talukdar, Debabrata & Bassett, Ellen M., 2018. "A sharing economy? Unpacking demand and living conditions in the urban housing market in Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 57-72.
    6. Downes, Thomas A. & Zabel, Jeffrey E., 2002. "The impact of school characteristics on house prices: Chicago 1987-1991," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 1-25, July.
    7. Stijn Dreesen & Sven Damen, 2023. "The accuracy of homeowners’ valuations in the twenty-first century," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 65(1), pages 513-566, July.
    8. Nepal, Mani & Rai, Rajesh K. & Khadayat, Madan S. & Somanathan, E., 2020. "Value of cleaner neighborhoods: Application of hedonic price model in low income context," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    9. Stephen Malpezzi, "undated". "Hedonic Pricing Models: A Selective and Applied Review," Wisconsin-Madison CULER working papers 02-05, University of Wisconsin Center for Urban Land Economic Research.
    10. Talukdar, Debabrata, 2018. "Cost of being a slum dweller in Nairobi: Living under dismal conditions but still paying a housing rent premium," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 42-56.
    11. Gao, Nan & Liang, Pinghan, 2019. "Home value misestimation and household behavior: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 168-180.
    12. Jacobs, Michael & Savedoff, William D., 1999. "There's More Than One Way to Get a House: Housing Strategies in Panama," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 1890, Inter-American Development Bank.
    13. Tur-Sinai, Aviad & Fleishman, Larisa & Romanov, Dmitri, 2020. "The accuracy of self-reported dwelling valuation," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    14. Carin van der Cruijsen & David-Jan Jansen & Maarten van Rooij, 2014. "The rose-colored glasses of homeowners," DNB Working Papers 421, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    15. Thomas Y. Mathä & Alessandro Porpiglia & Michael Ziegelmeyer, 2014. "Wealth differences across borders and the effect of real estate price dynamics: Evidence from two household surveys," BCL working papers 90, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    16. Bardhan, Pranab, 2022. "Clientelism and governance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    17. Paramita Dhar & Stephen L. Ross, 2009. "School Quality and Property Values: Re-examining the Boundary Approach," Working papers 2009-37, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics, revised May 2010.
    18. Christie, Pamela & Shannon, Michael, 2001. "Educational attainment and the gender wage gap: evidence from the 1986 and 1991 Canadian censuses," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 165-180, April.
    19. Brasington, D. M., 2003. "The supply of public school quality," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 367-377, August.
    20. Christofides, Louis N. & Pashardes, Panos, 2002. "Self/paid-employment, public/private sector selection, and wage differentials," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(6), pages 737-762, December.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:uwp:landec:v:88:y:2012:ii:1:p:251-274. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://le.uwpress.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.