The prevailing scenario of real estate market has been showing all promising indicators ever since the previous year. Property transactions in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad have been brisk and expanding in volumes.
Apparently, investors of different scales and profiles are using their market wisdom to position themselves for the best possible returns. Keeping anomalies aside, certain contexts are tagged as the most lucrative domains for investment.
Few prize sectors in Islamabad, Defence lands in Lahore and Karachi comprise this category. However the overall behaviour of the market displays some extremely crude practices.
Future speculative sales of prospective sectors, multiple sales around token investments, total absence of land use considerations and a meteoric rise in nascent trading without sound demand analysis are few aspects in these urban property transactions that can be marked as a danger signs.
Historical evidence from various contexts around the world has shown that unscientific lamb trot often leads to sudden collapses in response to various peripheral conditions.
More often than not, the negative fallout affects the small and medium scale investors who do not have a financial cushion to fall back on! There are many basic planning tools that can be used for the various essential tasks pertinent to the real estate market. One such tool is the land information system (LIS).
LIS is a simple catalogue of the land assets in any given urban or regional context. It contains essential variables such as property ownership details, description of registration, land uses, geographical parameters, topographical characteristics, provisions of construction and infrastructural availabilities.
It is often evolved from simple land surveys which are done manually and verified by the concerned land owning or managing authorities. This attribute alone is the starting point of building up an LIS.
Possibilities of developing an up-to-date LIS are optimum if a few pre-requisites are fulfilled. One, the various land owning and managing agencies need to share the land records for initiating an LIS.
Two, the city municipality should develop a basic framework to collect such records and organise them according to a user friendly format. Three, a basic and commonly applicable set of parameters are outlined for different land categories and arrange them according to a desirable format.
Three, a basic and commonly applicable set of parameters are outlined for different land categories to establish essential characteristics. And four, categories of land are identified according to a specified criteria.
With the advent of computer technology, there are many conveniences that are common place in contemporary practices. There are several mapping tools that are now commonly available to incorporate the parameters into the mapping profiles. These tools can be employed to evolve the basic configuration of maps that may be corresponded with the available data related to land.
Advantages related to the usage of computer tools include the capacity to store large volumes of mapping data, swift processing possibilities, capacity to regenerate the maps to suit varying profiles, enhanced options of analysis, accuracy in plotting and locational characteristics, capability to generate outputs of different types in the form of maps and data sheets as well as enhancement in the storage of data to the optimum extent.
When combined with the attributes of construction, property values and building types, it has the possibility to evolve into a comprehensive database. It may be kept in mind that effectiveness of markets of all kinds are greatly affected by the knowledge bases.
The process of decision making, comparing choices, weighing and assessing the risks and opportunities and ensuring transparency in dealings are facilitated through open and unhindered access to information. This becomes an all the more vital reason to enact an LIS which possesses up-to-date attributes about land parcels in any given context.
From the historical references, it is found that real estate markets in and around the urban centres are marred by several short comings and handicaps. A sizable number of them are related to the information base, or rather lack of it.
Limited access to land records, obsolete databases, scattered information, absence of periodic updating, organised corruption (even involving the concerned institutions), lack of effectiveness of planning controls, absence of a proper regulatory mechanisms are few of the issues that are linked to the lack of an efficient LIS.
Countless case studies of land related disputes are a citation in this regard. Few years ago, an army general who headed the cricket board of this country, conveniently allowed the conversion of a prime land into a real estate enterprise for the benefit of servicemen.
When the concerned quarters pointed out towards the relevance of that land for promotion of cricket, the general hid behind the existence of a dubious allotment dating back to the British colonial times. Similarly acres of land belonging to the Railways have been illegally converted for real estate ventures with incomplete documentation.
The ultimate sufferers are the naïve common buyers who obtained the flats without any precaution. Between 1985 and 1993, it was safely estimated that the successive chief ministers of Sindh illegally allotted urban land in Karachi worth more than Rs6 billion! Similar practices continue till the present times without restraint.
It must be clearly understood that land is such a resource which cannot be regenerated for sure. Its inappropriate usage must be checked. An effective means to deal with this vital issue is to structure an information base which provides factual knowledge without dispute.
The creation of such a resource shall frustrate corrupt practices by itself. Building of information base shall help streamline the transactions, land use planning as well as preparation of overall development scenario for the urban contexts.
Modern day markets can only be enhanced through availability of up to date information that create level playing fields for all stakeholders under relevant regulatory framework.
As a starting point, it may be started from few cities such as Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Thereafter it can be applied to all the cities and regions in the country.
