REALTORS do not expect any surge in property investments in the near future by overseas Pakistanis, especially from those living in the US.

Property dealers say the country’s real estate sector has not been receiving any higher inflows of investment nor enquiries from Pakistani-Americans because none of the recent actions have had any direct fallout on Pakistanis. In short, the post-9/11 bubble is not expected to happen again, say the realtors.

“Yes, the Pakistani community is concerned, but they are not in a panic or planning to move back,” a Pakistani journalist working in the US for almost two decades said. An independent US judicial system has reinforced confidence of the Pakistan community, he added.

Abdul Wahab Parekh of Parekh Estate Clifton agreed, stressing that the property market across the country was maintaining a status quo. “Pakistani-Americans have not been facing any problems in travelling to and from the US, so they haven’t shown any extraordinary interest in the property market.”

However, Association of Builders and Developers Chairman Mohsin Akbar Sheikhani differed. Having recently returned from a visit to the US, he said his Pakistani friends had definitely started thinking of having real estate assets back home and for that they are exploring ways because in the US there are certain restrictions on large foreign transfers through banking channels.

Mian Bilal Hanif, Chief Executive of Estate Heights, which operates in Punjab and Islamabad and deals mainly in gated housing societies, observed that despite the rather low comfort level of Pakistani-Americans, not many have started liquefying their assets abroad. It’s a wait-and-watch time for them, he said, adding that government actions in recent times in terms of regulating the real estate market would also be a factor in this regard.

“Overseas investors closely monitor developments in the real estate market. The government should regulate the sector in a gradual manner rather than fixing all ills in one-go which caused flight of capital to Dubai and Malaysia and other countries,” he added.

The impression that US-based Pakistanis are aggressively buying houses, flats and plots through their relatives is not correct because the market has not fully recovered from the shocks it received in recent months, he added.

According to him, gated housing societies developed by a few big names will be major beneficiary of prospective investments by Pakistani-Americans whenever that happens.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2017