Steps for sustainable urban housing growth.

Byline: Mohammad Iqbal

There are two school of thoughts as to why housing costs in many parts of Pakistan are high. According to one group, the housing sector is expensive because since the inception of Pakistan, the governments have not adopted restricted land utilization frameworks where restrictions can be put in place to limit the cost of land for housing purpose and through this way the prices of plots cannot be escalated. Additionally, because of government weak and ineffective laws, the housing business quickly devouring Pakistan's agricultural lands and it could have cascading effects on the country's food security in years to come.

A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report is an eye-opener because it revealed that Pakistan has the highest urbanization rate in South Asia. Current government vision to promote vertical growth of the cities will surely help to protect agricultural land but this need to be materialized on ground not just on paper.

On the other hand, people contend that housing is become an expensive business because of corrupt land mafia people are gentrifying this sector with their own design and wishes and corrupt bureaucracy assist and help these people to achieve their malicious goals, which in turn results in disappointment and fear of civil society in investing their hard earn money.

Simply, whatsoever reasons, the houses are expensive in Pakistan. However, providing transparent housing finance to legitimate people is a critical determinant for every government in power, so is with PTI government. A transparent and easy housing finance mechanisms is a key driver to bring socio- economic revolution in our country. One of the wise ways to introduce good housing finance mechanisms is to study success models of different industrialized countries, such as China. Due to market-oriented housing reforms, China has experienced fast economic development. In 2000, the proportion of added value in GDP was 2%, which after reforms became 6% in 2011. Moreover, due to sustainable growth in real estate sector, the GDP share of China rose to 7% in 2019. However, Pakistan Economic Survey (2019-20) reported that the construction industry accounts for about 2.5% of GDP share and Pakistan has reached this score mainly due to CPEC projects.

A well-designed housing finance system could fruitful for the economy of our country through flourishing real estate sector. The real estate sector comprises of four main components i.e...