Analysing Housing Tenure Preferences and Their Determinants Among Urban Households in North Central Nigeria

This study analyses housing tenure preferences and their socioeconomic determinants among urban households in North Central Nigeria, examining why the strong Nigerian cultural preference for homeownership translates into such limited actual owner-occupation rates in the urban formal sector. The tenure preference-outcome gap in Nigerian cities reflects the complex interaction of cultural values, economic constraints, financial market failures, and land tenure insecurity, and its systematic empirical examination provides evidence for more targeted housing policy. A cross-sectional household survey is administered to 600 urban households across Abuja, Minna, and Makurdi, collecting data on current tenure status, stated tenure preferences, housing expenditure patterns, wealth levels, income, household composition, and attitudes towards home ownership. Binary probit and multinomial logit models are estimated to identify the socioeconomic determinants of actual and preferred tenure. Findings confirm overwhelming homeownership preference across income groups, but identify mortgage inaccessibility, land documentation complexity, and inadequate savings capacity as the three factors most strongly associated with persistent renting among homeownership-aspiring households. Age and income are strong positive predictors of owner-occupation in all model specifications. Contrary to expectations, formal sector employment is not a significant predictor beyond its income effect. Homeownership rates among households with access to employer-provided housing loan schemes are significantly higher. The study argues that employer-facilitated housing finance programmes are the most effective near-term policy tool for the homeownership aspiration-outcome gap. Keywords: housing tenure, homeownership, tenure preferences, North Central Nigeria, housing policy.