Real estate

The business of property transfers has nosedived since the announcement of the new evaluation system and imposition of fresh taxes on real estate sector in the budget for 2016-17.

Property dealers told The Nation on Sunday that the new system introduced by the federal government had totally halted registration of properties all over Pakistan, causing frustration among applicants and huge losses of revenue to the government.

Senior Vice Chairman of Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD) Arif Yousuf Jeewa said that the registration of properties had completely stopped throughout the country due to rigid attitude of the registrars, who now asked the applicants to produce stamp duty according to property valuation notified by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) instead of DC rates.

“All registrars, throughout the country, are rejecting those property cases presented on the basis of DC valuation, saying that they will only accept those applications having stamp duty according to immovable property valuation fixed by the FBR.Read More »Pakistan Property transfer business nosedives since last budget

LAHORE: The realty sector of Punjab has asked Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar to levy taxes on property rates set by the province instead of evaluations made by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as new assessments have increased the cost of property transactions by up to 400%.

“The realty sector is in chaos since the announcement of new taxes and revised property valuations,” said Mian Talat, former president of the Defence Housing Authority Estate Agents Association, Lahore.

The new taxes imposed by the federal government to boost its revenue stream had proved counter-productive for the national exchequer as fewer transactions in the current fiscal year led to a fall in the federal and provincial tax collections, he added.Read More »Real Estate market insists on tax levy at provincial rates

The new property evaluation method based on actual market rate will increase the cost of properties transfer by at least 100 to 200 percent.

The property dealers said the business of property sale and purchase has nosedived since the announcement of this new system and imposition of fresh taxes on real estate sector as there is more than 80 to 200 percent difference between the actual property rates and DC rates.

“Now the buyer has to pay almost Rs300,000 for registration of a plot of five marla in a lower middle class locality in Lahore suburbs against earlier rates of Rs150,000 under DC rates,” Nasir, a property agent, said.Read More »Property transfer cost in Pakistan increases up to 200pc

Pakistan government on Monday implemented new rates of taxes, through a presidential ordinance with immediate effect, which will apply to new valuation tables for the purpose of taxation of property in major cities.

The ordinance empowers the Fed­eral Board of Revenue (FBR) to determine the fair market value of properties of areas across the country. Ear­lier, this was a job for State Bank of Pakistan.

Similarly, it was also clarified that for areas where no valuation tables have yet been notified, the district officer revenue or provincial or any other authority authorized in this behalf for the purpose of stamp duty will apply for the collection of taxes.

The new valuation tables will only be used for the purpose of calculating Capital Gains Tax (CGT), withholding taxes and for the purposes of Section 111 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.Read More »FBR empowered to carry out property price evaluation

KARACHI: The federal budget 2016-17 and an amendment to the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 have begun to impact the real estate sector.

Pakistan’s real estate market has witnessed bullish trend for last four years and a drastic price hike in the last one year. Estate agents believe that after the budget announcement 2016-17 and the amendment, the scenario has changed and the market is cooling down.Read More »New rules spark slump in Pakistan real estate market

Pakistan is facing shortage of over 9 million housing units as formal financial sector caters only up to 2 per cent of all housing transactions, the lowest ratio in the region.

The State Bank’s Quarterly Housing Finance Review, released on Friday, stated that there was shortage of around 8 million housing units in 2009, which has been accumulating by 0.34 million units every year (World Bank, 2009).

The report said the informal lending caters up to 10-12pc of transactions for housing.Read More »Housing shortage in Pakistan reaches 9m units

By Adnan Adil

In the absence of any regulatory mechanism by the government and a dysfunctional judicial system, the land property mafia has ripped off the middle-class

Our newly rich property magnates keep making quite a splash by building grand mosques and flaunting their charity works. These shows of riches and piety mock the misery of millions of Pakistanis on whose hard earned incomes these tycoons have thrived. The private real estate business has prospered in a country that has a shortage of 10 million housing units according to official estimates, which means that 60 million people need housing on the basis of six members constituting a family. If one takes into account the fact that 80 percent of the 200 million population either lives below or on poverty line, an unofficial but more realistic estimate of this shortage would be 20 million units.Read More »Stakeholders against affordable housing