Factors Influencing Access to Urban Land for Private Housing Development in Minna, Nigeria

Abstract

Land is a major factor of production and a vital asset in the socio-economic development of any country or society. Due to the continuous increase in urban population, resulting in rapid urbanisation, access to urban land has become a challenge. This paper examines the factors that influence access to urban land for private housing development in Minna. The study adopted descriptive and causal research designs. Data for the study were obtained from field survey through structured questionnaire administered to 400 private housing developers in the study area using simple random sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. A total of 18 variables were distilled from previous empirical studies through literature analysis. These variables were further analysed using factor analysis technique to obtain the factors that influence access to land for private housing development in Minna. The results indicate that the most important of these factors are land titling factor (EV = 4.717), socio-economic factor ( EV = 3.595) and land acquisition factor (EV = 1.996) with very strong factor loadings from double allocation (0.894), gender (0.838) and cost of land (0.928) respectively. The study concludes that these factors hinder effective access to land for private housing development in the city. It recommends that stakeholders in land administration and management in the city should consider these factors in the land administration system to facilitate private developers’ access to land for private housing development in the city.