The hierarchical prospects of housing redevelopment: owner-led redevelopment of multi-family housing in India

The redevelopment of multi-family housing is evident globally, with deteriorated housing necessitating redevelopment to overcome issues of obsolescence. This research investigates the preferences of residents in the redevelopment of multi-owned multi-family properties in the city of Pune in India, drawing on a survey of residents and interviews with key stakeholders. The study outlines how these preferences are prioritised and explains the relative importance of certain redevelopment preferences over others, including an analysis of how the pre-development needs and aspirations of original owners influence their choices and how tenure-based endowments shape residents’ preferences during redevelopment. The paper draws on the lenses of prospect, loss aversion, and endowment theories to propose a theory of hierarchical prospects of residential redevelopment. Quantitative prospects, qualitative prospects, unit-level locational endowments and top-up prospects are found to be hierarchical in nature based on the variance explained through a factor analysis. Our theory both converges with and diverges from earlier housing-behaviour theories that explain decisions to move, stay, or adapt. It emphasises that a ‘decision of redevelopment’ should be regarded as theoretically distinct from decisions of staying, moving, or adapting.