Abstract:
This study assesses the development of incremental housing in Akure, with a view to ascertaining the factors responsible for this decision and development. The objectives of this study are to assess the socio-economic characteristics of the incremental housing developers, appraise the attributes of incremental housing in Akure, analyze the challenges encountered by the developers of incremental houses in the study area and analyze the significance of the identified difficulties by the developers in Akure. The research instruments include in-depth fieldwork, observation, questionnaire administration and interview. A total of three hundred and eighty nine (389) residents of the four selected residential neighborhoods (Oba-ile. Igoba, Ijoka and Orita –Obele) was randomly selected for the study. Four hundred copies of questionnaires were administered and Three hundred and eighty nine (389) copies of the questionnaire were retrieved and analyzed. Inferential statistics such as mean Value techniques were used to analyze data collected for the study. The result of the study revealed various majority of the residents in the four neighborhoods were low income earners and have spent more than 10 years on the construction of their buildings. The identified difficulties experienced by the developers includes accessibility to finance , cost of building materials , and housing appearance at the early stage of incremental construction were the most significant difficulties while tenure security for land before house construction and land accessibility for house construction are the least significant difficulties. Also the challenges encountered by housing developers in the study areas was revealed to include rising cost of land and low return on investment are the most significant challenges while planning regulation and scarcity of land with infrastructures and the least significant challenges Among others the research recommends that the government should provide Infrastructural facilities, NGOs, private sector should help in encouraging the developers by giving flexible loan, create awareness, project monitoring and programmes implementation. If these recommendations can be followed, it will address challenges and difficulties encountered by incremental housing developers.
