Housing and Urbanization in Africa: unleashing a formal market process

In the wake of the failure of the formal market to respond to mass housing needs in Africa, policy has been identified as the consequence of such failures. The absence of mass housing delivery has resulted in dire living situations. A house is an important asset as it is fixed and accumulates wealth (in most cases) as time goes. In Africa the process of formal investment in housing for ordinary urban households has not got underway. Housing provision in the 21st century African city contrasts with 19th century London and many other such cities. This paper was written by Paul Collier and Anthony J. Venables from the Department of Economics, Oxford University.