Dear Mr Abebe

I need your comment on the title and advices on the statement of the problem.

TITLE: - DETERMINANTS OF RESIDENTIAL HOUSE RENT PRICE IN

BAHIR DAR CITY, ETHIOPIA

Statement of the problem

Getting accommodation to live is one of those basic necessities for human being. This right is
recognized both under international multi-lateral conventions and national legislations. The
satisfaction of this basic need may requires the involvement of those directly concerned
individuals through building their own dwelling house, the government though building low cost
houses and regulating other housing tenure, real estate companies or associations and private
land lords [ CITATION bel13 \l 1033 ].

[CITATION Rob \n \y \l 1033 CITATION Rob \l 1033 ] Opoku (2009) Sstated that people rent than
own home in developed cities of the world, especially among households those choose for
apartments. All over the world, renting offers a more affordable way for many people to gain
access to accommodation. This is also consistent with[ CITATION bel13 \l 1033 ] Taye ( 2013) ;
and he found that especially in developing countries individuals may not be in a position of
building their own houses consequently they may ultimately depend on other tenure types
mainly on governmental and private rental sectors, due to financial constraints.

[ CITATION Wal06 \l 1033 ] States that the increments of urban population due to natural
growth of urban residents and rural to urban migration will impose a huge burden on
those towns and cities which are not ready to provide the aspired higher standard of living,
shelter and well paid works. These phenomena also worsen the existing critical shortage of
basic needs like housing. [ CITATION Kei01 \l 1033 ], also found that at the turn of the
millennium, there were about one billion people living in insufficient housing conditions in
developing countries.

The study by[ CITATION Smi \l 1033 ] shows that in demand and supply of housing many
factors have their own impact in different part of the world even though the extent and
degree of their influence varies from one place to another. One of the most important
factors which impose a stronger impact on housing needs is Urbanization. The study
by[ CITATION Ivy13 \l 1033 ], also shows that the frequent movement of workers from one city
to another, especially to urban areas, resulting in increases in demand and price of rented
accommodation. Due to the high demand for residential apartments, landlords take undue
advantage of tenants and increase rent without adhering to rent regulations. Even though
Ethiopia is known by the low level urban residents, its cities and towns including Bahir Dar
are currently encountering an overabundance problems including acute and ever
worsening housing shortage (Solomon and Ruth, 2004).

[ CITATION Ége07 \l 1033 ] classified the determinants of rental house price into economic and
noneconomic factors. The economic factors are interest rate and income level. a non-
economic factor is Population. From the economic factors (Berglund, 2007) and (Larissa,
2006), found a positive relationship between income and housing prices. An Increases in
income gives incentive to lessor to take advantage of the increased purchasing power
of renters and .increase house prices and rents.

The study in Ghana by[ CITATION Ivy13 \l 1033 ], shows that location, number of bedrooms,
availability of amenities, facilities, and sharing of facilities are significant in determining
residential rental prices. Whereas the study conducted by (Tsukamoto, 2015) shows that
households in low income communities are not very much concerned about availability of
amenities in their choice of apartments for rent, determine the level of rent they pay. And
distance from the nearest fermata has an impact on residential rent price.

And also (Zietz et al., 2007) , (Selim, 2008) and Marco (2008), conducted a study using
hedonic pricing model and found that certain apartment characteristics such as square
footage, number of bedrooms, number of other rooms, number of bathrooms and
toilets, type of house, type of building, size, water system, pool, and natural gas had
some significant effect on rent. (Larissa, 2006), concluded that population growth, income,
high rates of crime and rent-regulated or rent-subsidized houses have a positive
relationship with rent price. And recommended that inclusive data set is needed to yield the
most detailed representation of rental prices as a function of their many different
determinants. The researcher also recommended that to look the results over a period of
time and across cities this is consistent with [ CITATION Sik13 \l 1033 ] housing rent price is
different from one house to another, or one time to another, or between one area and
another, a model is needed that relate this various characteristics of house which have
defined influence on rent levels to conduct a study simultaneously.

Even though the housing sector is feasible economic entity in Africa and particularly in
Ethiopia, is the most understudied subject (Ethiopia, 2011). Although rent plays an
important role in the economy, academic research on its determinants is
inadequate[ CITATION Hon13 \l 1033 ]

Most of the previous studies conducted by different researchers in Ethiopia (for instance,
[ CITATION Wal06 \l 1033 ], [ CITATION bel13 \l 1033 ] , B[ CITATION Reg \l 1033 ] , (Ethiopia,2011)
and (Solomon and Ruth, 2004), are mainly focused on investigating conditions, supply and
affordability of owner occupied, condominium houses, public rental houses and real state
houses in urban Ethiopia. Even though the accommodation of private rental houses are
much higher than from all own reoccupied, condominium, public or kebeles rental houses
and real estate houses, most studies ignore private rental houses. And also, the finding of
the above studies cannot be inferred for private rental houses since the features of owner-
occupied, condominium, government owned rental houses and real estate houses are much
different from private rental houses. So, it is rational to undertake this study will focusinges
on the determinants of private residential house rent price.