State of housing sector in Pakistan.

Byline: Mohammad Iqbal

As a worldwide commonality housing backlog is the biggest outcome of continued urbanization. Land, infrastructure, finance, administrative bodies, real estate markets and most importantly role of government are most significant factors in this regard, and the tool through which the governments intervene is usually known as housing guideline or housing policy.

Pakistan's population explosion and rapid urbanization has left a growing number of people without access to decent, stable, affordable housing. The last census, documents a housing stock of 32.2 million, of which 39% is urban. Pakistani households tend to be large with an average of six to seven persons living and eating together in a single household. The per person room density is 3.5 as compared to the international standard of 1.1 per room. The typical household in Pakistan has an average of 6.7 persons, but about one-quarter (26 percent) of all households have four or fewer members.

The urban population is expected to grow by 2.3 million people per year over the next 20 years. This translates into the demand for 360,000 households, at 6.3 individuals per households. Pakistan has a very critical shortage of housing units. It has been estimated that we already have a backlog of around 7 million housing units, and this accumulates by 270,000 units every year. Furthermore, the less than satisfactory conditions of existing housing facilities, contributes adversely to the quality of life of people of Pakistan. This situation is going from bad to worse in urban cities and towns, where more than half of the population lives in slums or irregular settlements. Housing finance remains largely underdeveloped in Pakistan. It is expensive and still limited in favor of higher income populations only. Private mortgages remain small and unaffordable.

In order to realize the potential of housing finance in Pakistan, the policy makers need to actively address the challenges facing the sector, in collaboration with the private sector. They should consider to strengthen the property rights, land development and property development framework. Government should introduce targeted housing finance programs, support the building industry and facilitate the development of the primary and secondary housing finance market, and introducing targeted housing finance programs. The effect of urbanization has been greater in developing countries. This is where the planners, the architects...