PM Shehbaz Sharif Prioritizes Affordable Housing in Upcoming Budget

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif instructed the affordable housing task force to prepare financing for affordable housing schemes.
The prime minister pointed out during a housing sector development meeting that making housing affordable will benefit both citizens and the economy.
He asked the task force to team up with the Ministry of Finance and commercial banks to draft real funding schemes for the upcoming budget.
Officials told the meeting that legal changes to support housing finance are almost complete. The Condominium Act 2025 and changes to the Foreclosure Law should be approved shortly, making loans easier to obtain for home seekers under low-cost housing programs.
The task force reviewed what had been completed and what still needed to be built as part of the current low-cost housing projects. It was added that the government has started offering 100 percent guarantees to participating banks in housing finance schemes to motivate them to lend more.
These proposed actions are one element of a wider strategy designed to support regular people and encourage the economy to grow safely by producing more jobs and houses.
For this purpose, the government has planned an extensive package for the real estate and housing sector. Officials are considering different measures such as restarting markup subsidies for low-cost loans, giving out loans over 5 to 20 years and lowering policy rates to bring mortgage purchases down. Also, the proposal aims to eliminate all tax payments for first-time buyers, cut down property transaction taxes and remove federal excise duties from deals involving real estate .