Govt plans to raise mortgage finance to 5% of GDP by 2035

According to Business Recorder, the government has proposed lifting mortgage finance to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, up from under 0.5 per cent today. The target sits within a new housing reform framework that also envisages 300,000 to 400,000 housing units built each year. Waqas Anwar, Member Planning Commission, made the presentation at a meeting chaired by Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal.

Other measures include making land registers, building permits, valuations and property transfers digital by FY2029, plus single-window construction clearances and escrow-secured payments for transactions. Ahsan Iqbal told the meeting that Pakistan must mobilise every sector to reach a $1 trillion economy, and said real estate and construction are central to any economy. According to the presentation, construction underpins 72 allied industries and provides approximately 9.5 per cent of national jobs.

Yearly housing need was put at 700,000 units, compared with supply of 250,000, which leaves a deficit of roughly 450,000 homes each year. Between 2017 and 2023, the urban population grew from around 76 million to 94 million people. Built-up areas grew from 2005 to 2022 by 104 per cent in Islamabad, 72 per cent in Quetta, 59 per cent in Lahore, 44 per cent in Peshawar and 43 per cent in Karachi.