Plot acquisition for self-build housing
Abstract The process of plot acquisition, development and construction of house is very complex in the private unserviced land market due to lack of information, high dependence on land brokers and inadequate institutional arrangements for land development and plot sales. The case of Bhubaneswar City in Eastern India is used to highlight the issues connected with plot acquisition and house building and to explain the factors required to be strengthened in the overall context of planned development. Specifically the pattern of ownership, process of land subdivision, transaction, transfer, development and final use for house construction are looked at. The study suggests curbing land prices, and intensifying infrastructure and service facilities, and indicates the need for the revision of the existing planning regulations to streamline the control mechanism.
The value of formal titles to land in residential property transactions
Purpose 
 
 
 
 
The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of title risks on property prices to establish the associated title risk-price premiums across property types and the moderating effect of occupation strategies for informal transactions. 
 
 
 
 
Design/methodology/approach 
 
 
 
 
Based on household survey data on transactions for 1,514 residential properties in Kinondoni Municipality, Tanzania, binomial logistic regression models were implemented to predict pre-purchase transaction risks. The results of which were used as inputs in mixed effect models to examine the effect of the predicted title risks on (2,010 constant) purchase price for three-bedrooms finished and unfinished housing units and 400 m2 plots. 
 
 
 
 
Findings 
 
 
 
 
Although legal titles have positive overall title risk-price premiums, such premiums hardly accrue from transactions involving finished houses and marginally accrue from vacant plots transactions. On average, unfinished housing purchasers are title risk-averse, “vacant plots” purchasers are title risk-neutral, while “finished housing” purchasers are title risk-lovers. 
 
 
 
 
Research limitations/implications 
 
 
 
 
The sample composition does not include developer-built housing units, the inclusion of which may sway results away from the observations of this study. 
 
 
 
 
Practical implications 
 
 
 
 
Titling alone can hardly be used as a property market stimuli (eliminate transaction risks) unless the market is dominated by unfinished houses. 
 
 
 
 
Originality/value 
 
 
 
 
Existing studies consider neither traded housing products nor pre-purchase transaction risks or consider only one of the two, thus leaving a gap in the literature for which this study sought to bridge. Researchers must incorporate both to arrive at a well-informed conclusion on the potential risks as well as prices achievable in each transaction.
Policy of Land Acquisition and Development: Analysis of an Indian Experience
The Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act was enacted in India in 1976 with a view to curbing land price increases and promoting low-income housing through socialisation of urban land. This paper critically examines the stated objectives of the Act and the major achievements after its implementation, and finds that the Act has so far not lived up to its expectations. The paper begins with an introductory background for the evolution of the Act and highlights its major provisions. A careful examination of the limitations in the implementation of this Act and its major implications as per experience is then presented. The paper concludes with the necessitv for a thorough reappraisal of major policy instruments, search for alternative strategies and consideration of the realities of the existing situation in the country for possible improvement.