We Are Short Of 10m Housing Units: PIDE.

ISLAMABAD -- Vice-Chancellor PIDE Dr Nadeem ul Haque has said that the notion of housing shortage and the belief that it creates employment, have led the government to push for an unsubsidized construction sector which has created an unnatural demand in the real estate market adding that there may be 'inadequate housing' in the country, but not a 'housing shortage'.

Dr. Nadeem ul Haque said that there is certainly not a 'deficit of 10 million housing units' in Pakistan. There may be 'inadequate housing' in the country, but not a 'housing shortage'. The deficit is in the quality of life in the houses, not the absence of housing units. Even if we consider the country's high fertility rate and rising population, the additional demand of 0.7 million households every year, as suggested by the IGC study (2016), is very high. Going by the mean household size, it means an additional 4.5 million people need accommodation- an estimate that appears far from reality. The mean age of the head of the household in Pakistan is 44 years. Given the cultural milieu, young adults do not generally live on their own, thus suppressing the demand for additional housing that could have been there because of the youth bulge.

This was revealed in the latest research titled 'The Assumed Shortage of Housing in Pakistan' by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) published in PIDE's monthly issue P and R.

In a media interaction VC Dr. Nadeem ul Haque, and Dr. Durre Nayab, Pro-VC PIDE, said that the IGC report cites an SBP report, but interestingly, the said report gives a lower per annum figure than the one quoted by the IGC. Some WB documents refer to a House Building Finance Company Limited's presentation as the source but nowhere does one find the...