Govt plans to provide subsidy on 3, 5 marla plots for affordable housing in budget 2025-26

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is developing a strategy to provide a subsidy on interest rates for 3 and 5 marla houses in the next fiscal year‘s budget of 2025-26.

The PML-N government is also making an affordable package with a 10 to 12-year return period, news reports said on Saturday.

With the estimated 14 million shortage of housing units in the nation at a time when the population is swelling, the government is preparing an affordable package for 3 and 5 marla houses in the coming budget.

But the Prime Minister‘s Office (PMO) is also trying to increase this prospective subsidy of 10 marla residential units for first-time buyers across the nation. But the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could take exception to this idea.

The subsidy on the interest rate for 3 and 5 marla houses might be around Rs50 to Rs70 billion on an annual basis, but for 10 marla houses, the cost will be higher.

The mortgage financing of the country has encountered problems and raised the matter of stay orders from courts during the payment of outstanding installments of loans.

Legal reforms have been undertaken, but additional procedural requirements are needed to establish barriers to mortgage finance promotion in Pakistan.

In recent discussions on affordable housing, representatives from nearly all banks complained of the legal barriers in recovering due installments.

Hence, before the large-scale promotion of the housing and construction sector, consultation has been made with the Ministry of Law to address this issue.