Why Most People in Dar es Salaam do not Own Homes

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania’s business city of more than six million is expected to have 10 million residents within a decade but the majority do not own houses. 

This implies that most of them are tenants; hence they have to work hard to pay rent. 

Ms Fatma Mdugi is among Dar es Salaam residents who have to sit in their pockets every after six months to pay rent. 

Explaining why it has been an unfulfilled dream for the majority of the city dwellers to transform themselves from tenant to landlord status, Ms Fatima says most people do not have sustainable sources of income. 

She adds that, to many, cash flow is not healthy enough to purchase plots in the commercial city, leave alone building materials’ price which has gone up in recent days.

Another resident Aisha Rashid goes a step further to identity poor planning of issues as a problem to many as far as owning a house is a concern.  "You can find a person who has been a tenant for over 10 years but has no plan to own a house,” she says. 

While some Dar es Salaam residents' single-out cost of owning homes in the city is too high, a real estate agent based in Dar es Salaam Lulu Pius says the cost of plots is not too high as it has been explained by some.

Most of Tanzania's financial institutions have mortgage loans as product-but the criteria to access such loans favors employees especially those who are in permanent and pensionable contracts.

This entails that, in order, the majority to be in the position to access mortgage loans, formalization of businesses and improving the job sector is a must.