INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLANNING REVIEW, vol.37, no.3, pp.289-309, 2015 (SSCI)
The intention in this study is to investigate the effects of different socio-economic factors on the probability of home purchases, focusing on the Cankaya and Yenimahalle districts of Ankara. To this end, an extended Cox regression analysis was undertaken using data garnered during an interview survey with a group of new home buyers in these districts. The results of the Cox regression analysis reveal that the probability of home purchase is significantly related to the method of housing acquisition, the level of education of both the head of the household and partner, the total number of children and whether or not the household has school-aged children. The results of the analysis also revealed that most of the factors that have been found to be significant in previous literature, such as the permanent income and the employment status of the household, had no significant influence on the likelihood of the surveyed households purchasing homes. Rather, the data derived from the household survey shows that household assets, such as ownership of land, is one of the most important sources of home financing, especially for lower income groups. Accordingly, no systematic relationship can be identified between permanent income and home purchase in this study, and the current Mortgage Law is unable to address the deficiency in this area, given that housing credits are out of reach of the low to moderate income groups due to the associated high interest rates.