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To provide low-cost housing, the Myanmar Government is attempting to use public–private partnership (PPP) to attract private investors. However, there is little information concerning the influencing factors for implementing PPP low-cost housing projects in Myanmar. This paper, therefore, aims to identify and analyse these factors.

A total of 51 in-depth interviews were conducted with interviewees involved in various kinds of housing projects implemented through the adoption of PPP or other approaches. The methods of data collection and the analysis are based on grounded theory (GT) methodology.

Using the GT method to analyse the interviews, five categories emerged from 50 influencing factors regarding the establishment and implementation of the PPP model for low-cost housing in Myanmar: provision of incentives; obstacles in implementing PPP for all stakeholders; barriers to private sector participation; public sector responsibilities and challenges; and attraction factors and challenges for financial institutions. Among 12 newly found factors, the three most important for PPP low-cost housing in Myanmar are the availability of project funding, the resolution of land-acquisition issues and the development of a sound financing system.

Our findings strengthen previous studies by identifying factors affecting PPP low-cost housing either specific to Myanmar or common among other countries. Of the 50 factors identified, 38 factors were found in previous studies, but 12 are likely specific to Myanmar.

Our findings can be used by governments, particularly the Myanmar Government, and financial agencies to understand the low attractiveness of PPP low-cost housing for investors and to develop/improve policies to stimulate PPP low-cost housing, especially in Myanmar.

Many previous studies have been undertaken to identify factors that influence the implementation of PPP for low-cost housing. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no prior studies specific to Myanmar in this context.

This study aims to show how hedonic methods can be used to compare the performance of the public and private sector housing markets in Costa Rica.

Hedonic price indexes are computed using the adjacent-period method. Average housing quality is measured by comparing hedonic and median price indexes. The relative performance of the public and private sector residential construction is compared by estimating separate hedonic models for each sector. A private sector price is then imputed for each house built in the public sector, and a public sector price is imputed for each house built in the private sector.

The real quality-adjusted price of private housing rose by 12 per cent between 2000 and 2013, whereas the price of private housing rose by 9 per cent. The average quality of private housing rose by 45 per cent, whereas that of public housing fell by 18 per cent. Nevertheless, the hedonic imputation analysis reveals that public housing could not be produced more cheaply in the private sector.

The quality of public housing has declined over time. The hedonic analysis shows that the decline is not because of a lack of competition between construction firms in the public sector. An alternative demand side explanation is provided.

This study applies hedonic methods in novel ways to compare the relative performance of the public and private housing sectors in Costa Rica. The results shed new light on the effectiveness of public sector housing programs.

This paper looks into the dynamics of private housing prices in Singapore from the first quarter of 1985 to the fourth quarter of 1995. Employing the cointegration analysis, the paper shows that overall private housing price is cointegrated with real gross domestic product, prime lending rate and private housing starts. An error‐correction mechanism is also incorporated in the estimation of changes in the overall private housing price to account for the short‐run deviations from the equilibrium relationship among these variables.

This paper aims to examine the effect of housing wealth on household consumption when there are resale and refinancing constraints that prevent housing assets from being cashed out.

Based on Household Expenditure Survey data in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2010, regression analysis is applied to compare the housing wealth effects of private and subsidized homeowners. Propensity score matching is adopted to ensure that the two groups of homeowners share similar household income. Further regression analysis is conducted to examine private homeowners’ consumption when their recourse mortgages are in negative equity.

Subsidized homeowners, who are not allowed to resell their units before sharing their capital gain with the government, experienced an insignificant housing wealth effect. While private homeowners experienced a significant housing wealth effect, the effect was weakened in the presence of a resale constraint induced by negative equity. The results remain robust after the application of more rigorous sample selection through propensity score matching.

The analyses are subject to two potential data limitations. One is a relatively small sample size. The other is that data on financial assets and mortgages are unavailable and have to be indirectly controlled through household characteristics. Nevertheless, our estimated marginal propensity to consume out of housing wealth is 0.03 of the annual household consumption for private homeowners, which is within the range of estimates reported in previous literature.

This study shows that the housing wealth effect enjoyed in the private sector does not necessarily apply to the subsidized sector where resale and refinancing constraints exist. This is not to suggest that the constraints be removed. Rather, policymakers should be aware of the tradeoff: while the constraints ensure that government subsidies are used to assist home ownership, not capital gain, they also bring about consumption inequality in a society, especially in a booming housing market.

Our findings extend the literature on the housing wealth effect, which has been exclusively focusing on private homeowners, to subsidized homeowners. This study also adds to the literature on housing welfare by highlighting that the resale constraints of subsidized housing can weaken the housing wealth effect.

Low income urban housing in Kenya is underdeveloped as a result of uninnovative financing, hence the many slums and informal settlements in the country, hence the need for enhanced participation of the private sector through application of Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), which has been cited as one of the possible solutions. The purpose of this study was to investigate and make predictions of the need for enhanced role of private sector in developing low income urban housing in Kenya through PPPs.

Delphi method of research was used to forecast the enhanced role of private sector through PPPs in the development of low income urban housing in Kenya. Three rounds Delphi iterations using three panels of housing financiers (30 in number), housing developers (28 in number) and housing practitioners (30 in number) were used. Data was collected through questionnaires throughout the three rounds, where the first round was exploratory in nature, the second round built on answers from round one, while round three was based on answers from round two, after which the mean and standard deviation values were calculated to show the level of consensus.

Results showed that PPPs is one of the plausible ways through which low income urban housing in Kenya can be developed to address its shortage. Private sector in PPP transaction brings innovative technology, finance and efficiency, while government brings its assets such as land and other regulations long term contracts.

The research was focussed on the Nairobi city county area in analysing the need for enhanced role of the private parties. It focussed on a panel of Housing practitioners-officers in the State Department for housing and Nairobi city county; housing financiers and housing developers, without interviewing the beneficiaries of the method.

It was, therefore, found out that PPPs models are applicable in developing low income urban housing because the country has the enabling environment for its effective application going forward. The implication of this study is that low income urban housing can be developed through the model.

The slums and informal settlements will have adequate, affordable and quality housing being introduced within their neighbourhoods, which reduces political and societal animosities.

This research has benefited from published literature on PPPs and original research on PPPs.

This paper investigates the private housing in Hong Kong in terms of flexibility. Since the last few decades Hong Kong Government is steadily endeavoring to achieve a sustained and healthy development of private housing property market. With Hong Kong's economy on the rise, and its fertility rate being one of the lowest in the world, more people are looking for increased space standards even for higher price. Currently, around two-third of the population of Hong Kong lives in private flats. However, it is observed that these flats, especially the highrise housing estates do not come as open shell like the public housing estates do. This paper at first identifies the major prototypes of contemporary private housings built in the past few decades. Then it compares the flexibility of different prototypes in four sequential levels of construction i.e structure, envelop, building services and infill. Flexibility is measured by means of potential layout options that the users practice inside these prototypes. It finds that some prototypes offer more flexibility than the others. It concludes that flexibility in recent private flats is gradually reducing. But on a positive note, they are offering more varieties in size and layout design in order to meet the increasing demand in spatial standards.

This study aims to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) in the implementation of the public–private partnerships (PPPs) in the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) affordable housing sector.

A questionnaire survey was conducted to assess 17 CSFs for PPP projects derived from previous international and local studies. The collected data were analyzed using the relative importance index technique to establish the most significant factors based on feedback from 48 respondents from the public and private sectors.

The most identified CSFs were good governance, government guarantees, commitment and responsibility of the public and private sectors, favorable and efficient legal frameworks, political support and stability, and demand for and the debt-paying ability of the project.

There has been rapid momentum in the UAE and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries towards engaging the private sector in the provision of infrastructure and housing after increased pressure on government budgets and falling oil prices. Thus, this study encourages strong consideration of the highest-ranked CSFs in the absence of any prior experiences or studies. On a broader scale, these CSFs are an effective policy tool for the GCC countries, which share similar contexts.

This paper represents the first empirical study in the GCC region and the UAE on the CSFs for PPPs in affordable housing, which is experiencing growing demand in the region to overcome the large deficit in housing supply.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of market-based approach to provision of housing to low-income households in urban Malawi.

This study was conducted in Blantyre, Malawi, between 2019 and 2022 and used both quantitative (household survey) and qualitative (in-depth interviews and document study) methods of data collection. Interviews were conducted with key players and investors in the housing sector. Household survey data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, which allowed the generation of descriptive housing valuables, whereas qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis.

This paper demonstrates that, rather than ameliorating the housing problems facing low-income households, the market approach to provision of housing in Malawi has worsened the housing situation in the country. This is so because the market approach to the provision of housing in Malawi is not only enforcing the logic of capitalistic accumulation in the housing sector but also supporting mechanisms of exclusion based on economic stratification within the community.

Completeness of data over time as there is no market data bank available in the country.

The findings from this study suggest that some degree of state intervention in addressing the housing problem in Malawi is required.

The study findings suggest that a market approach to the provision of housing can increase social inequality as low-income households face challenges in accessing housing.

There is a paucity of research on the effects of the market approach on the provision of affordable housing to low-income households in Malawi. This paper assesses this important policy gap and provides significant policy directions.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify and rank the challenges influencing the delivery of the housing public-private partnership (HPPP) in Tanzania; and second, to suggest solutions in the form of a conceptual public-private partnership (PPP) framework model that will address the identified challenges and boost the chances of success.

Using a convergent parallel (concurrent) mixed method approach, data were collected from 28 stakeholders involved with HPPP projects in Tanzania using a hand-delivered and e-mail survey and 13 semi-structured interviews with public and private sector respondents. The quantitative data included subjecting the 19 challenges as identified from the literature to parametric tests such as one-sample t-tests and descriptive statistics tests such as measures of central tendencies and frequency analysis through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 22.0). Qualitative data employed content analysis. The research was further underpinned by a number of theoretical perspectives such as Gidden’s structuration theory, contingency theory, relational and equity theory.

The top five ranked challenges influencing the delivery of HPPP were “inadequate PPP skills and knowledge”; “poor contracting and tendering documents”; “inadequate project management”; “inadequate legal framework”; and “misinformation on financial capacity of private partners”. The least six ranked and most significant challenges based on the one-sample (single) t-tests were as follows: “Poor risk allocation”; “inexperienced private partner”; “unequal qualification and contributions of expertise”; “poor enabling environment to attract competent partners”; “inadequate mechanisms for recovery of private investors’ capital”; and “high costs in procuring PPP projects”. The qualitative study further confirmed the challenges and cited the reason for the failure of joint venture projects as the lack of motivation for undertaking similar PPP projects. Despite the increased awareness of PPP projects and associated marginal benefits, the main impediment to the uptake and delivery of PPP housing projects remained the lack of skills and expertise.

The proposed framework model is not yet tested, but since this paper is part of the ongoing research, the next stage involves the testing and validation of the model. Future studies could test the applicability of the proposed framework in other HPPP projects in Tanzania, and in other similar developing countries. Second, the validated framework can contribute towards addressing similar challenges as well as providing guidance. The proposed framework model is not yet tested, but since this paper is part of the ongoing research, the next stage involves the testing and validation of the model. Furthermore, recommendation for future research is to test the alignment of the identified challenges to the proposed remedial solutions across the five phases within the proposed PPP framework with a number of case studies.

The identified challenges were used to form the basis of the framework presented in this paper. Furthermore, these provide useful information, thus leading to increased awareness to enable successful delivery of HPPP in Tanzania. Similarly, both the government and policy makers could use the findings as the basis for re-examining the existing PPP policy and regulations, and reflecting on the existing situation with a view to improving the delivery of future HPPP projects.

The empirical study is among the first that identifies and ranks the challenges of PPP for housing projects delivery within the Tanzanian context. The identification of the challenges enabled their ranking, resulting in the mapping out of the most critical challenges. Furthermore, using the Gidden’s structuration theory, the study illustrates how institution mechanisms (structures) address these delivery challenges, thus influencing the implementation of HPPP in Tanzania, and how individual stakeholders (human agents or agency) are able to make choices (advocated solutions) in dealing with the challenges. More so, these constraints (challenges) as identified and viewed through the contingency and equity theoretical lenses form the foundation for developing the PPP conceptual framework. The proposed framework would thus serve as a mechanism for providing practical solutions as well as reducing the level of severity of the identified challenges.

Though China is taking many steps to offer affordable houses to the public, the gap between the demand and supply for such affordable houses is still huge. Rapidly growing demand for affordable housing has encouraged large Chinese cities, faced with housing imbalance, to invest in developing affordable properties. As a result, the Chinese central government has started to encourage local governments to use Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and private capital to supplement the funding deficit. There is also an on-going debate regarding the need to establish prerequisites for institutions to meet in order to achieve effective PPPs. In this paper, we examine what the current institutional environment is in China and how China is meeting these prerequisites for effective PPPs. We also examine the main programs on affordable housing and propose a potential field for using PPPs. We draw the conclusion that PPPs are more favorable for renting-oriented type projects than owning-oriented projects. In this context, the advantages of the PPP model for China's renting-oriented affordable housing programs are would be the provision of private financing, the enhancing efficiency by involving private sector experts and the statement of bundling constructions and maintenance and operation work in the contract, which motivates the private sector to build properties up to standard for its cost efficiency from the whole project perspective.