1. Introduction

A definition of place of worship is: “lands or buildings used for religious assembly and worship by an association which is charitable organization permanently organized for the advancement of religion and the conduct of religious worship, service or rites” (City of Toronto 1998 cited in Lamichhane, 2015). Such places of worship include churches, mosques, Hindu Temples, Chinese temples, Juju shrines, sacred forests, and Gurudwara. The benefit provided by religions and their places of worship is numerous. They serve the community by offering various social and charitable works. They contribute to healthy, stable family life, stable marriages, reduction of domestic abuse, crime and drug addiction (Iroham, Oloyede, and Oluwunmi, 2011 and Lamichhane, 2015).

Most religions provide ancillary services such as schools, hospitals, motherless babies home, home for the elderly, cafeteria, auditoriums and residential units which offer the community free service or subsidy charge. Religion builds social cohesion among the members allowing them to engage in advancing the common good of the broader society. Individuals have the right to choice of faith and propagation of the same as guaranteed in section 38 of the Nigerian constitution. Sub-section 1 in particular states that " person shall be entitled to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom (either alone or in community with others and in public or in private) to manifest and propagate his religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice, and observance”.

Given this freedom of religion guaranteed by the constitution, the major religions in Nigeria have propagated their belief, spreading across the entire country. Christianity seems to be spreading faster, given its many denominations, unlike Islam. To buttress this, Iroham et al (2011) stated that in 1963, Muslims were 47%, Christians 35%, and others 18% of the total Nigerian population, but as of 2010, Muslims were 50.4%, Christians 48.2% and others 1.4%, Christianity have witnessed the most significant growth of 35% to 48.2%. This growth in Christianity has resulted in the establishment of churches at every corner of cities. One of the churches has as her goal, to open a church branch every five minutes walking distance, in every town in Nigeria. Iroham et al. (2011) stated that every bare land is almost worship centers. It is not just open areas, but buildings, apartments and office spaces have been converted to worship centers in Uyo. Along streets, one finds about 10-15 churches clustering around. A more disturbing trend is the establishment of Churches in residential estates. Studies on the impact and effect of Churches or worship centers on property values exist in the works of Mourad (2006), Babawale (2011), Babawale and Adewunimi (2011, (Iroham et al (2011), Aliyu (2012), Aliyu, Bello, Kasim and Martin (2014) and Lamichhane (2015) without similar studies in South-South region of Nigeria. This present study will examine the impact of worship places (churches) on property values in Uyo metropolis.

2. Review of Related Literature

As noted earlier, several studies have conducted on the impact and effect of places of worship on property values. This section reviews some of these available studies, identifying gaps and need for the present study.

Mourad (2006) in Sydney, Australia explored the development of mosques and its impact on land use. Out of 80 mosques and prayer centers in three local government areas of Sydney metropolitan area, the study interviewed three (3) representatives of three mosques in each local government area and three planners from each of the three regions planning authority through purposive or judgmental sampling. The study found that individuals reside close to mosques for religious services and that mosque has an indirect impact on land use close to it such as the type of businesses operating nearby. The findings also revealed that plans and policies in place relating to the location of worship hardly exist and emphasized the importance for planners to be aware of the diversity of issues that are present in their locality. The study further revealed a lack of systematic planning policies in place and indifference from planners towards differentiating and planning for mosques. It among other issues recommended the development of plans and strategies which encourage shared parking facilities and public participation of religious groups in the planning process. The sample size of three (3) mosques representatives out of 80 mosques are entirely inadequate for the generalization of its findings and conclusions.

In Lagos, Babawale (2011) measured the impact of church externalities on nearby residential properties (flats). A total of 450 households' head were surveyed using purposive sampling. There was a division of the study area, into 9 zones with the survey, of 50 households’ heads. The data was analyzed using the hedonic model. There was a comparison of eight independent variables of parking lots, bedrooms, bath/toilets, distance to work, noise and flood nuisance, nature/ number of access roads, the condition of property and length from the church, against dependent variable of the net rental value per annum. The findings showed that the eight housing attributes significantly accounted for variation in apartment rentals. The study also revealed that one unit increase in the number of bedrooms and bath/toilet results in N20, 400.28 and N16,560.69 increase in house rent respectively. There was also a negative correlation of distance to church to the rental value indicating that apartment renters pay more for houses close to the church than those further away. This negative correlation, the author believes as a result of supply outstripping demand in the study area, whereby renters are being "forced" to play down on the negative externalities generated by the church. The author suggested that real estate appraisers should fully incorporate the import of externalities into their considerations in the valuation of residential properties. This study like that of Mourad (2006) have collaborated the impact of worship centers on real property values, but its sampling technique (purposive) would have introduced bias into the study, thereby making its findings not representative of the study area.

In a similar study to Babawale (2011), Babawale and Adewumi (2011) examined the impact of neighborhood churches on house prices in selected areas of Lagos metropolis. The hypothesis that proximity to a church does not affect, positively or negatively the house price, was tested using the hedonic pricing model. There was a collection of data, through purposive sampling of 450 rented apartments in the selected areas. The study showed that neighborhood churches, particularly the large ones, impact negatively on the values of nearby residential properties. The findings also revealed that where more critical positive externalities exist nearby, the adverse effects of churches, even the large ones, on residential property values can be neutralized or even overshadowed. This paper is a mere republishing of Babawale (2011) with the same sampling size, technique, and result but different title. The findings also cannot be generalized since the sampling technique had introduced bias into the sampling.

Iroham et al. (2011) in Ota, Ogun State examined the effect of worship center (living faith Church, Ota) on property values. There was a survey of forty-five local estate agents working with the two estate surveying firms practicing in the area. Determining the effect of the Church on property values in Ota, there was a classification of rental value into two groups of, before and after the establishment of Living Faith Church in 1999. The data were analyzed using the student test at a confidence level of 95%. The tested hypotheses failed, meaning that there is a significant difference between the rental value of properties before 1999, with the Living faith church yet to establish and after 1999, when the Living faith church exist.

The authors concluded that the location of religious centers had a significant impact on residential rental value. The authors advocated for the government to encourage the planning of religious centers in the vicinity of residential areas, and the rural regions of the country as it will not only enhance spiritual growth but also create an avenue for socio-economic development extending from these areas with sizeable unutilized land mass. The using of Students T-test is for a small sample size of less than 30. Thus its usage by the authors for a sampling size of 60 may have produced an incorrect result. Moreover, the analysis of rental value before and after 1999 without considering other factors and assuming the presence of the church alone to account for its significant difference is somewhat questionable. The authors have also not taken into consideration the effect of the nearby Covenant University on rental value when recommending that religious centers should be sited in remote areas to enhance socio-economic Development of the city.

Aliyu (2012) examined the impact of intangible location attributes on the values of residential properties in Jos metropolis. Stratified random sampling was used to sample 1000 occupiers of residential properties and ten estate surveying firms. Simple percentages, distribution tables, charts, and graphs were used to analyze the gathered data. The study found that intangible location attributes of religious segregation are the leading indicator that influences the value of residential properties in the study area. The findings of the survey further revealed that there is a relationship between intangible location attributes and provision, availability and maintenance of neighborhood facilities. The author, therefore, concluded that invisible characteristics of location have a significant implication on the values of residential properties. He expressed the need for estate surveyors and valuers to take into account intangible location attributes when carrying out valuation or feasibility and viability appraisal in Jos. The study concerned the religious violence that occurred in Jos at the time, instead of places of religious worship. Thus the resulting variation can be said to be the effect of religious violence.

In a similar study, Aliyu, Bello, Kasim, and Martin (2014) studied the impact of ethnoreligious crises on residential property values in Jos, Nigeria. There was a survey of a cross-section of 1000 residents in Jos North and Jos South through stratified random sampling. Histogram, graph, charts, and pictures were used to present and analyze the gathered data. The study found that areas classified as violence-free neighborhoods command high rental and sales value of land and landed properties. It also showed that people prefer areas that are predominantly of their religious and ethnic extraction and as a result, the residential pattern of Jos changed, with Christians mostly in Jos South and Muslims in Jos North. The study concluded that intangible location attributes play a vital role in dictating the price of land and landed properties. The authors suggested that investors and real estate developers should take into consideration the intangible characteristics of a location when determining the worth of land in the study area. This study, like Aliyu (2012), did not state the study population from the 1000 sample size. Thus, the sample size may not be a probability representation of the study population which can introduce bias into the study.

Lamichhane (2015) in Canada explores how Hindu faith group dealt with land use planning issues related to locational constraints and zoning bylaws provisions when they established temples in their communities. The study interviewed and surveyed two (2) members of Hindu temple organization in the selected two case studies of Hindu temple and two (2) planners from the city of Toronto. The study found that the current trend in which places of worship in employment districts (areas that have no residential uses) offer less connection to their communities or particular neighborhood in Toronto. The findings also revealed that the studied temples did not experience any conflict with local planners over the issues of location and zoning restrictions. The study further found that religious congregations tend to occupy warehouses or storefronts in light industrial zones due to affordability issues, as rising land prices threaten to push places of worship further out of downtown or suburbia to vacant industrial lands. The author suggested the need for city planners to consider Hindu community members’ cultural background, language barriers, and unfamiliarity with the set standards, rules and regulations of their new places. The sample size of 2 members of Hindu temple and two planners are too small for its findings to be generalized.

3. Research Methodology

The investigates the effect of worship centers (churches) on property value. There was a selection of four neighborhoods or clusters where churches are in close range to each other and ten (10) residential apartments within a maximum range of 200 meters, for the study. In each neighborhood, at least ten (10) churches are in close range. All these four neighborhoods are both medium and high-density residential neighborhoods. There is no inclusion of low-density areas since there are no clustering of worship centers in those neighborhoods. Therefore their impact would be minimal or absent. Low-density regions of Uyo include Ewet Housing Estate, Osongama Housing Estate, Shelter Afrique, etc. The neighborhood I is Nsikak Eduok Avenue from Ray field schools to House of Assembly road. In this neighborhood, five worship centers also shared a common boundary, and these include Methodist Church, Eckankar Temple, Insight Bible Church, Full Life Church Christian center and Beluah Tabernacle. Others are Christ Embassy, Apostolic Church, Mount Zion Lighthouse Full Gospel Church, Redeemed Christian Church of God, etc. Neighborhood 2 consists of Mbierebe Obio around Word of Faith Covenant Church, and within this neighborhood, there are twelve (12) churches. Neighborhood 3 comprises of Ikot Ebido street around Living Faith church State Headquarters, and in this vicinity, there are ten (10) churches. In neighborhood four which is Idoro Road around Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries State Headquarters, there are twelve (12) Churches. The choice of these neighborhoods was due to the presence of many churches with most of them of the higher congregation, with attendance of 1,000 worshippers and above. Therefore, being in a residential neighborhood, their impact regarding negative externalities like noise, traffic congestion, parking problems, etc. are likely to be more pronounced. Though, the concern of this study is on the effect of proximity of the churches to residential apartments, other independent variables like number of rooms, number of toilets, accessibility, and condition of the property were obtained and analyzed to get a holistic effect on rental values of these properties. Tarred access is 3, untarred but motorable was graded 2 and not motorable as 1. The grading of the property, in very good condition, 3, good condition as 2 and fair as 1. A variable like security, not included given that all the sampled properties are in the same neighborhood. Age of the property, ventilation, and illumination lie under the conditions of the property.

There was a random selection of Ten (10) apartments in each neighborhood and collection of data on rent passing on the accommodation, distance (meters) to the Church, number of rooms, number of toilets, access roads, and their condition. A multi-regression analysis was employed to analyze the gathered data, with SPSS version 15.0.

4. Discussion of Findings

Regression analysis used to analyze the data for each of the neighborhoods.

NEIGHBORHOOD 1 (NSIKAK EDUOK AVENUE)

The statistical analysis of data in table 1 of Appendix “A” shows that the four variables of number of rooms, distance to church premises, number of toilets and condition of the property excluding access significantly affected the rental value. It reveals that these variables cause 98% variation in rental value. The standardized beta coefficient shows that the number of rooms has the highest impact on rental value, followed by the number of the toilet while the distance to church premises had the least impact. Also, the correlation coefficient shows that all the variables have a positive/direct relationship with rental value except distance to church premise which has a negative/inverse relationship of 67.6%.

Moreover, the analysis also shows that the number of rooms will contribute N66,884.41 to a unit of rental value and number of toilets contribute N43,445.52 whereas the distance to church premises only added N112.93 to rental value. The above analyses show that while all the four variables affect the rental value, distance to church premises reveal a negative impact on the rental value, thus its contribution to a unit of rental value being as low as N112.93. This negative impact of distance to church premises exists in the findings of Mourad (2006) and Aliyu (2012). Though the findings of Babawale and Adewunmi (2011) had shown a positive effect, the authors argued that the result was due to over stripping demand for accommodation in the neighborhood.

NEIGHBORHOOD 2 (MBIEREBE OBIO)

Data in table 2 of Appendix "B" reveals that 94.4% variation in rental values of properties in Mbierebe Obio neighborhood caused by the four variables of number of rooms, number of toilets, distance to church premises and condition of the property. Again, like in neighborhood 1, access to the property was excluded in the analysis of SPSS because all the access roads in the area are almost of the same state and condition. The standardized beta coefficients of the model indicate that number of rooms exert the most significant impact on the rental with a coefficient of 0.861 followed by the state of the property with a coefficient of 0.169 and the number of toilets with a coefficient of 0.074, while the distance to church had the least impact with coefficient of 0.048. This level of influence manifests in the contribution of each variable to a unit of rental value. It shows that the number of rooms contributes N60,000.00/unit of rental value followed by the condition of the property with a contribution of N18,000.00/unit of rental value, while the distance to church premises has the least input of N160.00/unit of rental value. While in neighborhood 1, the number of toilets is more important than the condition of the property, the situation here in neighborhood 2 shows that the condition of the property has more importance.

Furthermore, the correlation coefficient reveals that the number of rooms has a positive direct relationship with a rental of 95.8% and the number of toilets also has a direct link of 78.1%, whereas the distance to the church premises has a negative/inverse weak relationship of 24.2%. Though the distance to church shows a negative impact, its level is a weak one when compared to neighborhood one where the level of the relationship was steady at 67.6% meaning that in neighborhood 2, worship centers have a potential effect on the residential property though it is a weak one. This result confirms the findings in neighborhood 1 of this study and earlier research findings of Mourad (2006) and Aliyu (2012).

NEIGHBORHOOD 3 (IKOT EBIDO STREET)

The model summary from the data in table 3 of Appendix "C" reveals that 99.4% variation in rental values of properties in neighborhood three is explained by the five independent variables of distance to church, number of rooms, number of toilets, access, and condition of the property. Unlike the first two neighborhoods of Nsikak Eduok Avenue and Mbierebe Obio, access to the property is present in the analysis because there is variation in the nature and state of roads in this neighborhood. The standardized beta coefficient shows that the number of rooms still exert the most significant impact with a coefficient of 0.542, not as high as in neighborhoods 1 and 2 with a coefficient of 0.632 and 0.861 respectively. The condition of the property came second with a coefficient of 0.357 followed by distance to church premises of 0.334. The analysis indicates that the number of rooms contributes N56,142.45 to a unit of rental value, number of toilets add N27,568.46 and distance to worship center, a contribution of N1,579.17 per unit of rental value. The condition of the property is the highest contributor of N89,898.85 per unit of rental value and access with a negative input of N56,056.35. The correlation coefficient shows that all five variables have a positive and direct relationship with rental value in the neighborhood. Some rooms and toilets both have a healthy positive relationship of 91.3% and 93.5% respectively, while the distance to worship centers, unlike other neighborhoods has a robust positive relationship of 55.4%. The type of accommodation could explain this direct positive relationship in this neighborhood. This neighborhood is mainly high-density residential neighborhood, unlike the neighborhoods 1 and two which are medium density residential neighborhoods, meaning that tenants in neighborhood 3 do not consider the negative externalities from worship centers as a threat to their habitation. This result is following the findings of Babawale and Adewunmi (2011) and Iroham (2011) where worship centers were found to contribute positively to property values.

NEIGHBORHOOD 4 (IDORO ROAD)

Analysis of data in table 4 of Appendix "D" shows that all the five variables cause 98.0% variation in rental value. Numbers of toilets has the most significant impact on the rental value with a standardized beta coefficient of 0.943, followed by the number of rooms with a coefficient of 0.577, distance to worship centers has a weak impact of 0.005 the contributions of each of the variables to a unit of the rental value. The number of toilets contributes N91,336.16 to a group of rental value, the number of rooms adds N70,722.962, while the distance to worship centers has a contribution of N20.48 to a group of rental value meaning this is the least among the four neighborhoods of this study, further confirmed by a negative correlation coefficient of 7.3%. The number of toilets has the most robust positive relationship of 88.8% with the rental values followed by the number of rooms with 81.6%. These findings buttressed the results in neighborhoods 1 and 2 and the studies of Mourad (2006) and Aliyu (2012).

5. Conclusions and Recommendations

Worship centers (churches) provide an avenue for her worshippers to gather and engage in worship of God. This study had examined the effects of these worship centers on residential apartments in Uyo urban. The study concluded that worship centers negatively impact on residential properties in medium density neighborhoods and positively in the high-density areas. The work indicates that the number of rooms and number of toilets exerted the most significant impact on the rental values in Uyo metropolis.

From the field survey, there are at least ten (10) churches in each of the studied neighborhoods, and they were all close, which increases their level of externalities. Thus it follows that if those churches are well spaced, the impact in these neighborhoods, are reduced. Suggesting that planning authorities in Uyo should consider the adequate spacing of worship centers in their approval of such buildings, the work also advocates that real estate appraisers should incorporate these impact in their appraisal and valuation, for their clients. The higher number of churches in the medium and high-density residential neighborhoods of Uyo is not the same in the low-density areas of Ewet Housing Estate, Osongama Housing Estate, and Shelter Afrique.

Appendix “A”

NEIGHBORHOOD 1 Sav

REGRESSION

/MISSING LISTWISE

/STATISTICS COEFF OUTS A ANOVA ZPP

/CRITERIA=PIN (.05) POUT (.10)

/NOORIGIN

/DEPENDENT RENT

/METHOD=ENTER DIST ROOM TOILET ACCESS COND

Regression

(Data Set 3) C:/Users/HP/Documents/ARTICLE/10 PAPERS/PLACE OF WORSHIP/NEIGHBOURHOOD 1. sav

Variables Entered/Removedb

Model Summary

ANOVAb

Coefficientsa

Coefficientsa

Excluded Variablesb

Appendix “B”

NEIGHBORHOOD 2 Sav

REGRESSION

/MISSING LISTWISE

/STATISTICS COEFF OUTS A ANOVA ZPP

/CRITERIA=PIN (.05) POUT (.10)

/NOORIGIN

/DEPENDENT RENT

/METHOD=ENTER DIST ROOM TOILET ACCESS COND

Regression

(Data Set 3) C:/Users/HP/Documents/ARTICLE/10 PAPERS/PLACE OF WORSHIP/NEIGHBOURHOOD 1. sav

Warnings

Variables Entered/Removedb

Model Summary

ANOVAb

Coefficientsa

Coefficientsa

Appendix “C”

NEIGHBORHOOD 3 Sav

REGRESSION

(DataSetl) C:/Users/HP/Documents/ARTICLE/10 PAPERS/PLACE OF

WORSHIP/NEIGHBOURHOOD

Variables Entered/Removedb

REGRESSION

/MISSING LISTWISE

/STATISTICS COEFF OUTS A ANOVA ZPP

/CRITERIA=PIN (.05) POUT (.10)

/NOORIGIN

/DEPENDENT RENT

/METHOD=ENTER DIST ROOM TOILET ACCESS COND

Model Summary

ANOVAb

Coefficientsa

Coefficientsa

Appendix “D”

NEIGHBORHOOD 4 Sav

REGRESSION

/MISSING LISTWISE

/STATISTICS COEFF OUTS A ANOVA ZPP

/CRITERIA=PIN (.05) POUT (.10)

/NOORIGIN

/DEPENDENT RENT

/METHOD=ENTER DIST ROOM TOILET ACCESS COND

REGRESSION

(DataSet2) C:/Users/HP/Documents/ARTICLE/10 PAPERS/PLACE OF

Variables Entered/Removedb

Model Summary

ANOVAb

Coefficientsa

Coefficientsa