Bahria Town is perceived to be the best residential society in Rawalpindi and Islamabad despite the fact that it is at a considerable distance from the heart of the Capital. But, because of price differential, excellent town planning and innovation, Bahria Town has become the darling of capital citys inhabitants and had even outpaced the seasoned and influential developers--the DHA.
However, in Lahore, Bahria had remained one of those small housing societies in the outskirts of city for long. Its popularity in Lahore had been hindered because of its distance from the happening part of city while DHA became the downtown of new Lahore.
Lately, the dynamics of Lahores housing market are becoming multidimensional as improved road infrastructure is changing perceptions. Now at anytime during the day, it takes 30-40 minutes from Bahria Town to reach any part of Lahore, thanks to the signal-free canal road and Ferozpour Road. Plus, the Bahria in Lahore is similar in size to the DHA society. And though its not much populous as yet; its popularity is gaining day-by-day.
This is evident in the fact that the gap between prices in DHA Lahore and Bahria Town have narrowed considerably in the last three years. According to data provided by Zameen.com, the average price of one Kanal plot (500 square yards) in Bahria was 60 percent of that in DHA in January 2011. By June 2013, that ratio had risen to 80 percent.
Apart from road infrastructure, an important reason behind the convergence of prices was lack of power outages in Bahria while the inhabitants of DHA were facing as many as 12-16 hours without electricity in the heat of Lahore.
Then, of course, the innovative ideas of Malik Riaz and his team also attracted housing costumers to Bahria. Attractions included opening of the state-of-the-art cinema hall, franchising of hot coffee shops and secure environment for the residents. The management bore the cost as demand wasn enough to justify cinemas and coffee shops. In retrospect, these features attracted the housing consumers.
Still, the prices in Bahria could not pace up with the sharp appreciation in real estate prices ever since the new government came at the helm of power. Bahrias prices were up by mere 10 percent from May to December, while the prices of DHA plots soared by 17 percent.
One plausible reason could be the fact that electricity woes have reduced substantially in Lahore, and because of that, the attraction of Bahria has come down marginally. The other plausible factor can be the speculation in DHAs new phases as investors confidence has boosted with the oncoming of PML-N government.
The shifting of money from bank deposits or other movable assets to real estate--after the government levied tax on the former and gave FBR access to bank accounts--can also be another factor behind the recent trend.
However, now that this practice has been stopped by the FBR, prices have started coming down in DHA. Besides, there appears some room for correction in prices in DHA in the short run. But in the medium term, prices should be expected to move north. So you better book your plots now!
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