Adnan replied on Tuesday, December 18, 2018 09:00 PM PST
So there are two ways of looking at it, first is whatever everyone is saying, dollar goes up, property value comes down unless the property market is booming. I bought properties that have more than doubled in the past few years, but in terms of dollar value, probably at the same value. Alternatively put the money in the bank and with current interest rates, you earn nothing. So if you are living outside of Pakistan and can buy property wherever you are, its a better bet than buying in Pakistan. The flip side of the coin is, your bank dollars are currently worth a lot of rupees and property is down, so for an investor, its a pretty good time to buy. Unless of course you don't want to live in Pakistan in the long term in which case, you don't want to buy property here and get stuck with it. In my opinion, the current property market challenges in Pakistan also present opportunities for the investor in the longer run. Dollar price is expected to go down in the coming few weeks, not up. The slide is the result of lack of confidence which should come back with the IMF and other programs plus foreign funding that are all being finalized currently. So upto the investor to take a risk and make some money or stay away. In my particular case, I am staying away for now and looking to buy some property where I live. However, I have investments in Pakistan and keep a close eye on their market vis-Ã -vis dollar value. Over the past 8 years, I have made more money than the bank would give me interest on, even with the declining rupee dollar parity. But its a game of long term investments. Anyone looking for short term gain will be disappointed. |