Housing

• 75 per cent of the world's countries have constitutions or national laws that promote the full and progressive realisation of the right to adequate housing.
  

• 61 per cent of countries in the world have constitutions of national laws that protect against enforced evictions.
  

• Households in cities of developing countries need an average of 8 times their annual income to buy a house; in Africa, they need an average of 12.5 times their annual income, while in Latin America, then only need 5.4 times their annual income.
  

• The highest rents are in the Arab States, where a household spends an average of 45 per cent of its monthly income on rent.
  

• One out of every four countries in the developing world have constitutions or national laws which prevent women from owning land and/or taking mortgages in their own names. Customary or legal constraints to women owning land or property are highest in Africa, the Arab States, Asia and Latin America.
  

• Real estate costs are highest in Asia and the Pacific where one square metre of land for a serviced plot costs an average of US$ 3.1. Africa is at the lowest end of the real estate market with an average price of US$ 0.15 per square metre.

Link:
State of the World's Cities Report 2001.

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