Showing papers by "David Martin published in 2012"

Insight of Poverty Income Line as a Determinant of Prudent Home Ownership in the 10th Malaysian Plan

Abstract: Purpose – This paper will evaluate income line and relate same to housing affordability by the low income earners and the Malaysian vision 2020 mission of attaining a fully developed nation status vide sustainable development indices in the 10 th Malaysian housing policy plan. The number of slum dwellers in the world has increased from 715 million in 1991 to 913 million in 2001, and to 998 million in 2005. Projections to 2020 suggest that the world will have up to 1.4 billion slum dwellers. Certainly, if the number of slum dwellers is increasing annually, it seems rather that best practiced housing policy is still deficient ( United Nations Human development program 2006, p.16) . G overnment officials are limited in the policy supported actions they are able to take in supporting the housing needs and aspirations of their citizenry. Design/Approach – This paper analyses and sieve ideas from housing programs and sustainable developments. It equally draws criteria which shall be used as an interim assessment of the policy proposals that will pave way for the low income earners to own their homes. Findings - The plan reserve policy programs for home ownership, strategies and programs that shall enable the country to emerge as a high-income nation. The development programs were tuned to the six National Key Results Areas, outlined in the Government Transformation Program, the National Key Economic program Areas of the Economic Transformation Program and the strategic economic reforms in the New Economic Model. The Plan details strategies towards a more focused role for the Government as a regulator and a catalyst for home ownership while upholding the principles of 1 Malaysia : People First, Performance Now to ensure effective delivery of service. But the poverty level has shoot from 3.8 to about 31% as suggested by Jayanath Appundurai. Equally, the RM800 set as the transition line from poverty is not sufficient; RM1886 is proposed to be more reasonable to meet the eight basic necessities. Keywords: Malaysia, Home ownership, Poverty income line and the new economic model

Impact of Violent Ethno-Religious Conflicts on Residential Property Value Determination in Jos Metropolis of Northern Nigeria: Regression Analysis Results

Abstract: Urban violence in the form of ethnic and religious conflicts/crises and even open warfare have been on the increase in many African cities in the recent years. Observation from literature shows that the role of violent-ethno religious conflicts as a mobilizing agent is among the most important questions of this century as conflicts linked to ethnicity and religion have led to significant destruction life and residential properties. Due to the number of crises in Jos metropolis over the last two decades, there has been a process of residential segregation along religious lines, dividing the city into predominantly Christian and Muslim areas. This research paper, therefore, attempts to examine the impact of violent ethno-religious conflicts on residential property value determination in Jos metropolis of northern Nigeria. Data were collected by interviews, self-administered surveys through questionnaire and direct observation. The stratified random sampling technique was employed in order to generate the data for the research. Simple percentage distribution tables and regression analysis were used to analyze the data for the research. The findings reveal that violent ethno-religious conflicts manifesting as social security (safety) is a function of residential property value determinants in the study area. It has also been established through the findings of this study that the experience in the study area challenges the existing theories of residential property value determinants. The results of the analysis show that there is strong relationship between violent ethno-religious conflicts and people’s choice of where to live and or not to live. This result suggests that policies that encourage social integration, psycho-social healing and psychological transformation could enhance the attainment of peace in the study area. There is also a need on the part of investors and property developers to take security into consideration whenever they want to embark on huge real estate investment to avoid wasting of capital.

The interplay of sustainable elements for low cost housing affordability and their manifestations on the choice of new home

Abstract: The current housing policies do not usually highlight on the sustainable elements for low cost housing affordability by the low income earners. Affordability is not an inherent characteristic of housing, but a relationship between income and relative prices (Stone, 1994 p.21). Housing affordability can be viewed from three different perspectives: affordability for renters; affordability for future home owners; and affordability for existing homeowners (DTZ New Zealand 2004). Findings: It is observed that salaries and wages are not commensurate to the swelling home prices. Whilst house prices are becoming more and sourer, salaries and wages are unavoidably stagnant. This forges further affordability problems especially on the low income earners whose income is already frozen by lean education level, high dependency ratio, family issues marred with ties, ethics and race.