Comparative Assessment of Residential Satisfaction between Public and Private Housing Estates in Federal Capital City (FCC) Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

In spite of efforts from both the private and public housing developers, residential satisfaction remains a major challenge in developing countries of which Nigeria is not an exception. The aim of the study is to comparatively assess residential satisfaction between public and private housing estates in Federal Capital City (FCC) Abuja with a view to (i) Examine the resident’s satisfaction with housing components (ii) Examine the resident’s satisfaction with housing, neighbourhood environment, social, economic and management aspects of housing. The study adopts the quantitative research design approach, thereby, primary data were collected through field survey. The sample frame for the study is 7943 households within the six selected housing estates, while a sample size of 366 households were arrived at using 95% confidence level. The samples were selected using systematic random sampling technique at an interval of 22 houses. The data were collected through questionnaires, and the data were analyzed using descriptive (mean, frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (ANOVA). The study established the residents from both the private (3.06) and public (2.89) estates are fairly satisfied with the residential area. The study also revealed that among the five components of residential satisfaction examined, the residents are only satisfied with the housing components; private (3.61) and public (3.55). The study shows that there is no statistical significant variation in residential satisfaction between the public and private housing estates; housing characteristics (0.506), environmental (0.266), social (0.851), economic (0.595) and management attributes (0.142), the p-value recorded for all the five dimensions of satisfaction is greater than 0.05 at 95% confidence level acceptable for all social science studies. The study conclude that, more attention should be paid to the neighbourhoods environment, social, economic and management components of residential area to improve the overall residential satisfaction of the residents. The study therefore, recommends among others an overall development of the residential area to cater for the social, economic and environmental desires of the residents.