Analysis of potential factors bringing disparity in house rent of dhaka city

Abstract

Housing problem is one of the most acute problems in the mega-city Dhaka. A recent study of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) showed that house rent in the city has alarmingly increased to about 350 % during the last 22 years (1990-2012) while the increase was 15.83 % higher in 2011 than in 2010. As a result fixed income city dwellers comprising both middle and lower middle class households are in great trouble to tackle the real-world problem of house rent in the city. This research thus conducted an extensive study to find the potential factors affecting the house rent by investigating relationship of increasing house rent with a number of important factors namely zonal variations of external appearance of the buildings, surrounding land use type, road distance from house, availability of open space, presence of utility facilities, type of structure, total number of flats, and average area of each unit flat are considered. A survey of 360 different areas on ten different zones of Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) area is conducted. Using the proposed prioritizing factors through weighted index method, it has been found that owners consider size of the unit as the main factor of determining the house rent. Social status plays the least role before determining the house rent. Increase of house rent in different interval of time has no relation with the distance from the main roads. Rather structures being distant from main road increase higher rent. Increase in price of utility services and daily necessary commodities are the prime reasons behind the house rent increase. Owners claim that house rent increase become a must when there is an increase in price of water supply, gas etc. Owners of the apartment mainly increase the house rent for their own accountability. Presence of house owner organization may reduce the abrupt and irregular increase of house rent. Building and structural condition is found to be the most influential factor for hiring residence in Dhaka city for the tenants. Accessibility and mobility along with social and community facilities are the next two criteria for choosing the residence. Accessibility is one of the most important factors for incensement of house rent. Safety and security, Proximity of educational institutions and social status also plays important role in this context. Though traditionally road distance and structure types are considered as the major factors determining the house rent, in contrary other factors namely size of the unit and presence of utility services are found to be the most dominant factors. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.