January 2015

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