The Demand for Housing Characteristics in Developing Countries

This paper develops and estimates an econometric model of the household demand for housing characteristics. The model is estimated using data from five cities and three developing countries. Overall, the procedures employed work well in a wide variety of circumstances. More specifically, it is found that: (1) Household willingness to pay for living space increases with income but at a less than proportionate rate; (2) Willlingness to pay for living space declines as household size increases; (3) Willingness to pay for several quality measures - structural quality; wall, roof and floor quality - is quite responsive to income.