PESHAWAR, Jan 2: The expected repatriation of Afghan refugees has affected real estate business in the provincial metropolis as property prices experienced a downward trend last month.

Leading property dealers informed Dawn here on Wednesday that prices of plots and houses in the posh Hayatabad township and other areas of the city had slumped, as many property owners had received notices from their Afghan tenants that they would vacate their houses soon.

They said real estate business had become a profitable business with the arrival of large numbers of refugees in the city. After the recent political developments in Afghanistan, they added, the people had stopped investment in that sector.

Official sources said that from 70 to 80 refugee families were voluntarily going back from Peshawar via the Torkham checkpost daily, and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees was likely to start repatriation of the refugees after March.

Shamroz Khan, a property dealer in the Hayatabad town, said his business had almost come to an end, adding that during the last three weeks not a single plot had been allotted. He said most people had built houses to rent out to the refugees.

Majority of the occupants in the city, particularly in Hayatabad, are Afghan refugees. Hayatabad alone is house to more than 25,000 refugees, while their population in the city is around 400,000.

Another property dealer, Khalid Jan, said the price of a five-marla plot in the locality had fallen from Rs625,000 to Rs560,000.

He said the slow down in the property business had also affected construction business.

He maintained that the repatriation of refugees would put very negative impacts on catering, transport and other sectors.