Housing preferences for affordable social housing projects in Guayaquil, Ecuador

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe the principles of a conceptual model to help developers and housing users achieve their expectations regarding quality, affordability and reasonable profits. Based on the identification of housing user’s preferences extracted from the survey, data are incorporated into model simulations considering budget restrictions for developers as well as for housing users. Design/methodology/approach - The models’ development was based on fieldwork in Guayaquil, Ecuador, using a method that includes housing users’ preferences. Developed through a “methodological pluralism”, this study identifies people-oriented variables and assumptions. Thus, a more integrated approach is proposed, crossing and covering the fields of different disciplines. Findings - The study concludes with findings regarding the identification of the most preferred attributes of housing users and the proposal of an alternative method to incorporate quality into model simulations for estimating housing market prices. Through optimizations, it is found that the optimal number of housing units per housing types in urban projects, which translates into more reasonable profits for the developers and the provision of better and more affordable houses for the users. Research limitations/implications - A more complete assessment of the principles described in this paper will require a larger timeframe and location of application. Practical implications - The identification of the most preferred attributes of housing users and the inclusion in a conceptual simulation model would help private and public developers to provide better and more affordable houses for users as well as to attain reasonable profits. Further, housing national policy could also be influenced by model’s results. Social implications - The consideration of housing user’s preferences will entail an improvement of quality of life for social housing projects. Originality/value - The study’s main original and novel contribution is the development of an approach for the inclusion of housing preferences into model simulations by using quality points and housing demand curves.