Reliable Real Estate.

Byline: Arooj Asghar

Whenever thinking about investing, one thing that pops up in most people's minds is real estate. Even in the time of recessions, real estate can offer some great investment potential. While most people think that real estate investment is solely about buying homes, apartments and flats, or commercial property, there is another side of real estate that the investor can take advantage of, even with a small investment- plots and lands.

There are several advantages in choosing to invest in plots and lands; and by learning more about them, one may find that this kind of investments is the right choice. There seems to be a widespread and baseless assumption among many people that investing in a vacant land is a "weak" or even pointless investment because it doesn't generate income. Contrary to the general perception, vacant land is also capable of generating some serious cash flow and it's one of the best investments in the world because of its hands-off nature and versatility.

Like any other country in the world, the housing sector plays vital roles both in the context of the economy of Pakistan and serving the fundamental human right of shelter. Apart from providing physical shelter, housing may have significant impact on the lives of the dwellers in terms of skills enhancement, income generation, increased security, health, self-confidence and human dignity. Pakistan, like many other developing countries, faces an acute shortage of affordable housing both in the urban and rural areas. Moreover, housing affordability is being eroded by poor land administration policies, which have resulted in very high land prices and high cost of construction that make urban housing prohibitive for lower-income groups.

Pakistanis diaspora are an asset of Pakistan as they send huge amounts of money to Pakistan. According to the State Bank, Pakistan received a record USD 21.84 billion remittances in 2019-20. Government needs to understand the fact that overseas Pakistanis only invest their money in the real estate sector as they are not able to do business in Pakistan remotely. Cumbersome procedure, imposition of high taxes on non-filer overseas Pakistanis and requirement of visiting Pakistan for the completion of property acquiring process are some of many reasons that have discouraged overseas Pakistanis to invest their money in the real estate sector. In spite of all these, this sector has experienced considerable growth in past few...