Influence of Homeownership Ambition on Housing Satisfaction of Tenants in Benin-City, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper addresses the challenges of sustaining the housing satisfaction threshold of tenants, juxtaposed with a home ownership ambition in the Benin City rental market. The concern was in finding out tenants’ sources of housing satisfaction; level of drive in homeownership pursuits; why they might desire a home of their own; and what role access to landed property played in their housing satisfaction and tenancy renewal propensities. Survey design was adopted and Samples of 1900 respondents randomly selected from identified buildings across three purposively selected residential zones of Benin City were distributed with structured questionnaires. A total of 1215 (current tenants) and 490 (erstwhile tenants now landlords) were retrieved and data obtained were analyzed using descriptive, regression and ANOVA statistics.  The study uncovered the fact that  access to landed property by tenants, reduced tenants’ obsessions about the building and its management but increased tenants desire for respect, pride and of a social responsibility.  However, tenants who were privileged to have land or ongoing personal housing projects had higher levels of Confidence and pride. This impacted on tenant’s submissiveness, subordination, loyalty, and consequently, volatility (‘tenant flight’). The study concludes that the source of housing satisfaction for tenants with strong homeownership ambition was not necessarily related to their positive conditions/quality of housing in their current tenancy. It was more related to achieving the goals of owning a house itself.