Zameen Property Real Estate Pakistan is one of Pakistan’s fastest growing property portals. The website has a diverse range of properties in different areas of the country, and its founders have a team spread across the country. The site offers listings, price estimates, and contact details for property sellers. Before, Pakistani property buyers and sellers had to go through brokers to access these listings. Zameen had registered more than 65,000 listings by the end of 2012, and by 2016, its website received over 20 million page views. In its early days, founder Imran Zaman collected payments manually.
Problems with quality control
The Zameen brothers started a series of businesses in the early 2000s, including an Alibaba-like e-commerce website, an air filter distribution company, and a small gym. Then, in 2006, they launched an online real estate service, Zameen. This service was part of a larger group of businesses that embraced informal ownership and encouraged kabza.
The company grew rapidly. Its founders built an extensive sales force and dispersed its services across the country. This paved the way for Pakistani property buyers to access information such as property listings, price estimates, and contacts directly from the sellers. Previously, only brokers had access to such information. By 2012, Zameen had registered 65,000 listings, and by the end of 2016, its site had over 20 million page views. Initially, the founders of Zameen Property Real Estate Pakistan were collecting payments manually.
Problems with cartelization
In recent times, Pakistan’s real estate industry has experienced a bullish trend. The market has risen steeply in the last year alone, and the new federal budget is expected to bring more stability to the market. However, estate agents say the situation has changed since the budget was announced, and the amendment to the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 (ITO) is the main culprit. The amendment, which came into effect on July 1, 2016, makes important changes to Section 68 of the Income Tax Ordinance 2001.
The property mafia is stringent than the government, and they will always find new ways to take advantage of people. However, the debt-trap isn’t a sustainable solution for Pakistan, and it can’t be set up by China, which is investing over $60B in the country. After all, if Pakistan defaults on its loans, China will lose money.
Problems with military control
Zameen is a real estate company that initiates most transactions in Pakistan. Zameen primarily sells its own buildings, and had eight ongoing development projects as of June 2020. Nevertheless, some agents and investors are critical of Zameen. The company claims that its methods are similar to those of Silicon Valley giants like Amazon, which favors its own products in the App Store.
The company has over 5.5 million monthly users and has digitized over a million housing units and land plots. It reports that 70% of all real estate transactions in Pakistan are initiated on the site. Zameen, which means “land” in Urdu, has completely changed the way property is sold in Pakistan, providing access to formerly private information.
According to the book Military Inc. by Ayesha Siddiqa, the army owns around 12 percent of the land in Pakistan. Of this, two-thirds of it is owned by senior military officials. It also holds 90 acres of land for the outgoing army chief, Gen Raheel Sharif.
One major problem with Pakistan’s real estate market is the lack of transparency. The government of Pakistan is more focused on receiving approvals for projects than on developing the real estate market. It has also failed to consider future possibilities and population growth. As a result, the real estate market has not evolved as it should.
Growth of Zameen
The growth of the real estate market in Pakistan is being fueled by a number of factors. The first factor is the low cost of real estate. Purchasing property in Pakistan is usually cash-based, and real estate agents spend a mere 0.5% of their budget on marketing. The other factor is the high level of dissatisfaction among property agents.
Moreover, Zameen initiated the majority of real estate transactions in the country. As of June 2020, the company had eight development projects ongoing. These projects included apartments, villas, commercial and residential properties. In addition, Zameen has a Zameen App, which offers real estate news and information.
Zameen Expos have also contributed to the growth of the industry. These international exhibitions have attracted many overseas Pakistanis to invest in property in Pakistan. The company is also known for spearheading the technological revolution in the real estate sector in the country. Their technology-based products and tools have helped the real estate market in Pakistan to become highly competitive.
In Pakistan, the real estate market has largely ignored macroeconomic indicators. As a result, it has grown even despite falling foreign direct investment and tight infrastructure spending. The industry is still expected to grow in the country despite the negative sentiments in the country’s economy. Zameen Property Pakistan
The real estate market in Pakistan has seen several developments in the past year. Regulations were introduced to the real estate sector, but overall market growth was relatively stable. The Pakistan Property Show was a success, providing global exposure for the country’s property market. The Supreme Court lifted the ban on high-rise buildings in Karachi.
