Described by some researchers as „Ghana‟s traditional house‟ and known in the Akan parlance as effiehyia, a
compound house provides accommodation for many tenants/households who co-exist and in many cases,
share some basic facilities such as toilets and baths, dry lines, electricity and water meters among others. The
study examines the factors influencing the trend of increasing number of self-contained units in compound
houses as well as assesses the effect of these factors on rental values in urban Ghana. In the survey, eightyeight
(88) respondents, comprising fifty-six (56) tenants, twenty-three (23) landlords and nine (9) estate agents
were interviewed for the study and a response rate of 89% was achieved. The researchers found that (a)
Tenants prefer self-contained units due to the convenience of having all the needed spaces and facilities at
their disposal; (b) Some landlords improve ordinary units to self contained units so that they can simply
charge higher rents; (c) The rent of a self-contained unit is three (3) times that of an ordinary unit in some
areas; and (d) Rent increment is sometimes based on the personal circumstances of landlords. It must be
emphasized that middle class tenants are gradually taking over compound houses in Kumasi because it offers
them a suitable alternative to the expensive apartments provided by private real estate developers and hence
crowding out the poor from the „low-cost‟ units they have lived in for centuries.