Plunge in property prices nearing end
LAHORE: It seems the fall in property prices is coming to an end. After registering a massive decrease in July — the month when the government’s newly-introduced tax measures came into force — data for August revealed that major housing societies saw little change in prices.
The recently-imposed tax on the real estate market had a negative impact on overall market activity and brought transactions, especially those of societies that are currently being developed, to a halt.
Prices plunged and investors sought shelter from the government’s revised property valuation rates. However, in August, the top three markets of the country remained stagnant with slight dips in the price of a few housing societies.
While property buyers and sellers now have to pay higher amount of taxes on property transactions, the highest amount that a taxfiling buyer will have to pay in Pakistan is still less than the 4 per cent tax he would have to pay for a property transaction in Dubai.
New tax regime
In Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi, the property markets did not register any significant fluctuations after the new tax regime was introduced. The prices stayed steady in August.
Lahore Statistics released by Zameen.com, an online property portal, suggested that despite significant lack of investment activity, prices in Lahore remained stable for the most part in August 2016.
Defence Housing Authority Lahore, which is the most popular investment option in the city, registered steady numbers for all plot categories during August, while no steep drops in prices were noted.
Bahria Orchard also bore the impact of the new taxes quite well; both 10-marla and 1-kanal plots showed insignificant price drops of 0.02 per cent and 0.23 per cent, respectively.
An increase of 0.55 per cent was recorded for 1-kanal plots in Bahria Town, while a negligible drop of 0.52 per cent was observed in the 10-marla plot category.
LDA Avenue One registered steady prices for the most part while Wapda Town showed a controlled drop in values. Islamabad’s realty sector also showed stability during August 2016.
In various localities, negligible dips were seen in property prices, but no major fluctuations were observed.
DHA Islamabad remained an area of special interest for both local and overseas investors and registered stable numbers, with a mere 0.66 per cent increase in the value of 1-kanal plots.
In Bahria Town, price drops of 0.15 per cent and 1.33 per cent were observed in the 10-marla and 1-kanal plots categories, respectively.
Meanwhile, Sector F-11 and Sector E-11 clung on to mere stability during August 2016.
Remained stagnant
Zameen.com’s data shows that property prices in DHA Karachi remained stagnant; an increase of 0.52 per cent was registered for 250-square yard plots while a decrease of 0.41per cent was seen for 500-square yard plots.
DCK, whose performance has been remarkable since its launch, registered controlled drops in property values during the month.
BTK and Gulshan-e-Iqbal, on the other hand, posted slight increases in the values of 500 square yard and 250 square yard plots.
In spite of the legal issues that occasionally affect salepurchase activity in BTK and the imposition of increased taxes, prices in the locality continued to look up, as the value of 250 square yard plots in the locality increased 1.15 per cent during August 2016.