Property business in Pakistan

Pakistan has a growing popu­lation and a shortage of hous­es. The Government does not have the funds or capacity to build so many houses, while the private sector or armed forces sector has not been able to build quickly or reduce the cost of housing over the past many years.

During World War 2, the USA faced a shortage of 3.5 Million homes and faced a similar sit­uation. Their Government dur­ing President Truman’s time addressed the problem in a low-cost way that got them great re­sults. Pakistan can copy that ac­tion to help increase housing in Pakistan as well.

President Truman’s Govern­ment passed a law that fixed the highest rent of a property at £80 per month, which is equivalent to £1000 in today’s terms. They also fixed the highest price of new homes at £10,000 or £134,000 in today’s terms.

Because it became a crime to buy or rent homes at higher pric­es than set by the Government, the private sector could not sell expensive houses and had to rely on selling a higher number of houses to make a profit. Peo­ple started constructing cheap, affordable, and similar hous­es, helping reduce construction costs. While people and compa­nies also stopped investing in properties and instead invest­ed in businesses, helping create many jobs and economic activi­ties for the country.

If Pakistan creates a database of all properties, fix the prices of the properties to an average, also fix the price of all new proper­ties that will be developed, stop yearly increases in the value of owned property, fix the price of rents, and allow citizens to access the database to see the actual set price of each property.

Then Pakistan will see a reduc­tion in property scams, an in­crease in affordable housing, an end to family disputes on prop­erty, while wealth invested in property will be moved into sec­tors that create economic op­portunities. Many evils and un­necessary work will disappear from Pakistan.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER

ISLAMABAD