Critical Barriers of Affordable Housing Delivery in Developing Countries: Evidence from Pakistan Using PLS-SEM

Affordable housing delivery is a global concern, especially in developing countries; in the same way, Pakistan is also facing this challenge due to haphazard urbanization. Governance failures, and socio-economic and cultural constraints make policy interventions difficult. This research synthesizes market, regulatory, governance and cultural factors to investigate the critical barriers of affordable housing delivery. To analyze this phenomenon, Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was performed. Formative and reflective constructs were evaluated using primary data from 200 professionals in Punjab, Pakistan. The findings show that while market and financial restrictions have no evident impact, policy and governance failure, institutional and regulatory impediments, and socio-cultural constraints have a considerable impact on housing affordability delivery. The model highlights the predominance of institutional and cultural variables over simply financial reasons, accounting for 77.8% of the variance in housing affordability delivery. The findings give vital insights to policymakers pursuing housing affordability solutions in developing countries.