Are Pakistani homebuyers ready to adopt sustainable housing? An insight into their willingness to pay

The supply side of sustainable housing needs to be complemented with, driven by, and shaped around a willing and committed demand site. This study examines the sustainable housing sector of Pakistan by describing the potential buyers’ profile and quantifying their willingness to pay (WTP) for sustainable housing uptake in the market. WTP is estimated through a survey of 354 potential homebuyers. Furthermore, the hierarchical Bayesian model of adaptive choice-based conjoint analysis is utilized to study the correlation of descriptive determinants on WTP for sustainable housing. The results suggest that demographical factors of age, gender, and literacy level positively correlate with WTP whereas environmental knowledge and income level negatively correlate with WTP. Also, energy saving has the highest relative importance among other housing attributes. The study contributes a vital empirical input to the literature by finding the potential sustainable homebuyers in Pakistan and their characteristics and proposes several policy guidelines to promote the uptake of the sustainable housing sector in the country.