House building and investment opportunities galore

Islamabad: The three-day Dream Home Expo ended here at the Pakistan-China Friendship Centre on Sunday with hundreds of people showing up to look for house building and investment opportunities.

The builders, developers and realtors put up around 150 stalls at the Jang Media Group event highlighting residential and commercial projects within the country and abroad. With jobholders making the most visitors, the exhibitors featured spot sales, special offers, and easy payment plans. They also answered questions about the real estate investment.

Most families, which belonged to the salaried class, booked houses, while the others went for plots and apartments for both personal use and investment. Both stallholders and visitors welcomed the expo, saying it benefited them. They called for the holding of more such events in future.

Shabbir Ahmad of the Future Marketing said not only did the event help participants expand clientele and find growth opportunities but it catered to the housing and investment needs of the common people as well.

“The expo successfully brought leading builders, developers, realtors and people from allied industries under one roof to their as well as the visitors’ benefit,” he said. Azmat Ali Bhatti of the Red Sun Associates, a real estate developer and consultant, said the expo helped his company not only effectively convey its message to potential clients and investors but also enabled it to know about the market trends.

He said the government should encourage and facilitate developers and builders to cater to the country’s housing and employment needs. Syeda Rabia of the V-Make said her company was committed to providing ultimate customer satisfaction through excellence and innovation in designing, fabricating and supplying best quality eco-friendly uPVC doors and windows solution to clients in line with international quality standards.

She said the expo helped her organisation make more, valuable entries to its client list and she hoped that more and more such events would happen to the benefit of all concerned. Some realtors complained about the government pursuing 'business-unfriendly' policies, saying a large chunk of the remittances sent in by overseas Pakistanis went to real estate investment but heavy taxation and ban on non-filers from purchasing property have discouraged that investment.

Most visitors showed interest in developing own houses using savings and called for low-cost housing schemes for low-income groups. They welcomed the Jang Group’s initiative and said they consulted stallholders on property buying, building and décor, and got good response.

A housewife turned up saying she was exploring the real estate investment opportunities in light of the guidelines publicised by the National Accountability Bureau. “I don’t want my money to go to waste or stuck in some illegal housing scheme and so, I’m going from one stall to another to ask questions about their projects as suggested by the NAB,” she said showing a newspaper advertiisement.

The organisers said the event would contribute to the real estate industry’s growth and promote Pakistan’s image as a vibrant, investment-friendly country. During the concluding ceremony, shields were given away to stallholders, while visitors got gold keys, Umrah tickets and motorcycles through balloting.