Pakistan housing shortage a huge opportunity for investors

Pakistan housing shortage a huge opportunity for investors

Media in Pakistan are awash with ads for housing schemes, most of them making fortunes on the backs of citizens looking for a home to call their own. Out of the country's nearly 208 million people, more than one third live in 20.01 million units in urban areas and the rest in 12.19 million in the rural ones. Pakistan's real estate portal Zameen.com research estimates suggest that the housing shortage of around 10 million units, nearly half of it in the urban areas, is one of the highest in South Asia.

The right to adequate housing is a human right defined as meaning: adequate privacy, space, security, lighting and ventilation, basic infrastructure and location with regard to work and basic facilities — all at a reasonable cost. Adequate housing protects people from myriad vulnerabilities, which may hamper their productivity and in turn economic growth and development. The government can make homes less expensive by allotting state land at reduced rates and waiving taxes on the homes built on this land, and providing basic amenities to make them more affordable. Instead, unplanned and unregulated areas, low availability of housing finance,