Housing ownership among female migrants in South Africa: The case of metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas

Abstract

In the study of female migration and housing acquisition, little has been elaborated about the magnitude and the direction of female migrants in South African context. Furthermore, housing tenure status is still under researched. Hence, the determinants of housing ownership, and how this differs across metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas is not sufficiently documented in migration and housing literature. This paper aims at identifying the factors contributing towards housing ownership among internal female migrants, and the differentials in comparing metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas in South Africa. This study makes use of the 2007 Community Survey data requested from Statistics South Africa. Logistic regression analysis was performed to highlight the relationship between female migration and housing ownership across areas. The key findings indicate that age, duration of residence, housing type, and household size are the factors contributing towards housing ownership among female migrants. The study found, further, that female migrants living in non-metropolitan areas are more likely to own housing in relation to metropolitan areas.