Key drivers of gated community developments. Case study: Greater Accra Region, Ghana and London, UK

<p>Despite the proliferation of gated communities (GCs) and the heightened research interest, the drivers encouraging the development of GCs have not been researched from the developers’ perspective, and equivalent research is limited from the residents’ viewpoint in Ghana. Similar research is quite dated in the UK, leaving the understanding of the phenomenon with little and dated corroboratory evidence. Previous studies acknowledge the need to understand gated communities contextually in various cities and countries for development, sociological and investment purposes and prudent policy interventions to strengthen the housing market.</p> <p>This research aims to explore the drivers of gated community developments from the developers’ and residents’ perspectives in two different market contexts; a developed market, the UK and a developing market, Ghana. Subscribing to a mixed methods research approach, this study adopts a triangulation, convergent research design in each case study.</p> <p>In the research phase in Ghana, a qualitative stage aimed at eliciting information on gated communities from the supply end of the market was carried out through semi-structured face-to-face interviews with twelve (12) experienced real estate professionals (developers, managers, academics, or consultants). Additionally, qualitative data was also gathered from websites, magazines, and fliers of GCs. The quantitative aspect was carried out through a survey of 74 residents of five specifically selected gated communities and 100 residents of the immediate communities around the gated communities to solicit data on the drivers for gated communities from the demand perspective of the market. Several findings and results emerged from this research.</p> <p>The qualitative findings identify demand for GCs, control over and undemanding management of assets and interests, development cost and speculative development as the main drivers for gated communities from the developers’ perspective. This finding is new to the gated community literature in Ghana, as no identifiable formal study has investigated the GC phenomenon from the developers’ perspectives. The survey results also reveal that security, land title security, location, facilities and services, and community living are the main drivers motivating residents to move into gated communities. The results confirm existing knowledge on GCs (see Asiedu and Arku, 2009; Muiga and Rukwaro, 2017; Salah and Ayad, 2018), as security was the main driver identified by residents in and outside the GCs surveyed. Apart from the security for lives, land title security was the second driver suggested by those surveyed. The land title security driver epitomises the contextual nature of gated communities. This driver is new in the literature and seen as a crucial factor in the Ghanaian context because of the myriad problems frustrating the land sector, thus making the need to search for a secured land title important. Additionally, the survey results of residents living outside GCs indicate that an increase in population, infrastructure, economic activities, neighbourhood prestige, and land values are some of the socio-economic impacts GCs have on the surrounding communities.</p> <p>After triangulating the qualitative and quantitative results, the target market for gated communities in the Ghanaian market is primarily the high-income and upper-middle-income earners in the population, foreigners, and Ghanaians outside the country. This finding is new to the literature as this is the first empirical study to consider the target market of GCs in Ghana. Also, the results uncovered an interesting relationship between the land sector problems and the GC market. It revealed that the insecurity in the land sector impedes the activities of developers while also serving as a factor that motivates people to move into the gated communities on the market. This is because residents perceive gated communities as a solution to the problems in the land sector. However, it was highlighted that GCs do not solve the problems in the land sector but rather divert the problems from the residents to the developers who acquired the land for development.</p> <p>In the research phase in the UK, qualitative and quantitative research was conducted as done in Ghana. However, due to challenges caused by COVID-19 and related travelling restrictions, some modifications had to be made to the collection method and scope of the data collection. Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured online interviews with seven (7) experienced real estate professionals and through websites and flyers. An online survey was carried out for the quantitative phase. Fifty-three (53) residents of GCs responded to the online survey. Several findings emerged from the research in this context. The qualitative findings revealed demand, gated community culture and value addition as the main drivers for developers in the GC market. Aside from the demand driver, these findings are new to the UK gated community literature. The quantitative results present security, facilities and services, property values, location and prestige as the main drivers for residents who reside and move into GCs in London. After integrating the qualitative and quantitative results, it was identified that the primary target market for gated communities in London is the middle-income earners of the market. Finally, the findings and results from the case studies were triangulated to conclude the study. The research confirmed that the contextual nature of GCs makes it challenging to compare different markets. The results from both study areas showed and confirmed existing knowledge that security is the primary reason most people move into GCs. However, it was noted in this research that GC residents acted on perceived insecurity in their respective societies to make a move into GCs rather than real and experienced security problems. This also confirms that perceived security issues have a similar impact as security problems experienced.</p> <p>Another conclusion drawn, especially from the research in Ghana, is that GC demand and development are likely to grow as most participants expressed high satisfaction and referral rates for GCs and the services enjoyed in the community.</p>