Abstract

The growth of real estate activities has been a phenomenon that spans throughout the territory of Cameroon. These activities have experienced growth within the Buea Municipality and cause pressure on the natural ecosystem and community water supply in terms of quality and quantity.

The main objective of the study is to identify real estate investments in the Buea Municipality and their effects on the environment, Specifically, the study sought to examine the growth of different types of real estate activities in Buea municipality, to examine the Problems associated with this growth in real estate activities in Buea and to find a way forward to the problems associated with real estate’s investment in the municipality.

To achieved the study objectives, the study employed a descriptive research design using a convenience and simple random sampling to sample 60 respondents using a structure-questionnaire. Data was analysed using SPSS (21.0) were descriptive statistics and chi-square test were use to test the hypothesis.

Findings revealed that the various type of real estate activities carried out were commercial purposes, agricultural activities, residential activities real estates used for special purposes such as church buildings or healthcare. it was also revealed that real estate activities in Buea have witnessed a rapid growth over the past years.

The study also revealed that major problems associated the real estate development in the area were noise pollution, inadequate drinking water, poor water quality, soil degradation, insufficient energy supply, lacking of building permits which results in to illegal construction leading to urban sprawl.

The study further shows that the digging of more wells and boreholes will help fathom the problem of inadequate drinking water and poor water quality in the area. Hypothesis test revealed that real estate investments have brought in any severe environmental problems in Buea Municipality.

Base on the findings of this study, it was suggested that the Council should work in collaboration with other stakeholders in providing good drinking water by providing wells and boreholes facilities to the residents with the Municipality.