Structured Imperfections: An intricate insight into the rental housing markets in Kumasi, Ghana

Abstract

Housing in urban Africa is dominated by the private rental sector, which delivers over 90 percent of units. In Ghana, the urban rental housing market is apparently unstructured, unregulated and shaped by unclear dynamics. In this paper we conceptualise the market by asking the following questions: a) To what extent is the rental housing sector aligned to competitive market conditions? b) What are the imperfect conditions in the rental market? and c) How do the imperfect conditions shape transactions and decisions within the market? Situated within the Perfect Competition theoretical framework and adopting Kumasi metropolis as the study case, the paper provides answers to these questions by investigating the supply, demand and regulatory structures of the rental housing market. A total of 68 respondents were engaged through multiple qualitative methods, including focus group discussions; key informant interviews, institutional consultations and document reviews to gather evidence. The inquiry reveals an elaborate rental market, intrinsically operating based on some assumptions of perfect competitions. Circumstantial imperfections identified are socio-cultural and rather consolidate the informalities within the market.