IMPACTS OF RESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENTS ON HOUSING SATISFACTION IN SELECTED NEIGHBOURHOODS OF OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study identified the important aspects of living environments on housing satisfaction in the selected neighbourhoods of Ogun State, Nigeria. This research, therefore, investigated the impact of the social and physical environment on housing satisfaction. The research areas are residential areas of the selected Local Government headquarters of Ogun state, Nigeria, with 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs). A mixed research approach is adopted, and data were collected through a structured questionnaire. The analysis was done with descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The study reveals that all environmental variables used in predicting respondents housing satisfaction in the study area were significant with P≤0.05, it was revealed that the most important environmental variable explaining housing satisfaction in the study area is the perception of respondents’ about the feeling of their neighbourhood (COP) explaining 37.3% of the variance in the dependent variable. The proximity to medical services was the second important variable contributing 17.2% variation in explaining respondents’ housing satisfaction. The level of security (SEC), availability of facilities and amenities (FAC), proximity to secondary school (PSS), proximity to the workplace (PWP) and community association (CAA) contributed 8.9%, 4.3%, 3.8%, 2.6% and 1.3% of the variance, respectively, in explaining respondents housing satisfaction. The findings imply that the neighbourhood social environment and community services aspects of residential environments were positively related to housing satisfaction. The results validated the significance of community networks at the neighbourhood level. The study recommends that in housing construction and development, the social and physical environmental attributes must, therefore, be put into consideration while providing housing for the people, be it public or real estate investors.