Purchasing flats and properties will become more difficult, as the federal government is planning to increase property valuation rates by about 30pc for major cities of the country.
The move comes as the once dead sector for revenue purposes has been generating increased taxes since last few years.
Under the first phase of increase in property valuation rates, the government’s revenues from the sector increased 100pc to roughly Rs15 billion while property transactions also grew by one-tenth during the July-April period of the outgoing fiscal year.
“Under the second phase, the government would notify fresh property valuation rates for major cities by June 30,” Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Dr Mohammad Irshad told The Express Tribune.
He said that the rates would increase by another 30pc on average, but would still be lower than the actual prevailing market rates.
The number of cities included in the plan will also be increased from 21 to approximately 30.
In the first phase, the FBR had notified rates for major cities including Lahore, Multan, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Islamabad, Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Sargodha, Mardan, Abbottabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Gwadar.
According to FBR officials, the increase in property valuation rates could be 15% to 20% in cases where the rates are already higher. The FBR could also lower the rates in cities like Karachi and Faisalabad.
The government will notify the new rates after the approval of the Finance Bill 2017.
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