Rawalpindi, Islamabad: House rents increased by over 25pc in two years

ISLAMABAD: House rents in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have increased by more than 25 percent during the last two years as compared to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) claim of around 9.3 percent, revealed an anecdotal survey conducted by Business Recorder.

As per the Pakistan Real Estate, Landlord and Tenant Law, landlords and tenants are entitled by law to jointly decide the rent. The law stated that rent increases are imposed automatically every year of tenancy and the increase will be 10 percent or rent will increase after every 3 years of tenancy and the increase will be 25 percent of what the tenant is already paying.

PBS in its latest data of Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation maintained that house rents increased by 4.29 percent year on year in September 2020 against the same period of last year i.e. 2019. And house rents increased by 5.02 percent in September 2019 compared to the same period of 2018, which reflects 9.3 percent increase in house rent during the last two years.

A visit to different localities of the twin cities revealed that over the past two years house rents in various localities increased in the range of 20-30 percent which contradicts PBS data. However PBS claims that its data represents countrywide prevailing house rents which include rural and urban areas.

People associated with property business have attributed the increase in house rents in federal capital and Rawalpindi to inflation and shortage of rental accommodation. They added that within 40 kilometers radius of the twin cities rents are three times higher than in other parts of the country however this does not imply that rates in other major cities are not rising at the same rate.

Shafqat Mehboob Khan a property dealer in Ghori Town said that a 5-marla house in 2018 was available on rent at Rs 15,000-25,000 which now has crossed Rs 20,000-35,000. He added that house rent of a 10-marla and one kanal house in Ghori town and adjacent areas is in the range of Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000 which two years ago was at the rate of Rs 35,000-75,000.

Mohammed Meherban Chaudhary another property dealer in F/7 sector and other posh areas of Islamabad said an independent house on rent in F-7/3 consisting of 4 bedrooms, drawing/dining, TV lounge, lawn and kitchen is available in the range of Rs 300,000-500,000 which two years ago was costing Rs 250,000 to Rs 400,000.

He said that rents of 4-5 marla houses in sectors like G-10, G-9 are ranging between Rs 75,000 to Rs 120,000, against Rs 55,000 to Rs 95,000 two years ago.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020