FOECHS: The end-of-the-year market update

Foreign Office Employees Cooperative Housing Society (FOECHS) does not receive the kind of fanfare that some of the other more popular housing schemes have received because they are more suited for the needs of short-term investors. FOECHS, on the other hand, is a medium to long term investment that will take its sweet time.

Located near Sector I-16, FOECHS was inaugurated in 2013 with quite a fanfare by the then Foreign Secretary of Pakistan Jalil Abbas Jilani. The housing scheme spans four blocks and offers around 1,300 plots. The majority of these plots are sized 600 square yards, while the housing scheme has 150 sq. yd. and 300 sq. yd. options available as well. The basic development work was completed quite a while go, but things have not progressed further because there hasn’t been much construction so far.

Here’s all you need to know about how things stand in FOECHS at the end of 2018:

Market situation and price trends

According to all the on-ground sources interviewed, the market activity had been rather lacklustre at the beginning of the year, and by the end of it, there hasn’t been much change and the dullness remains. Basically, the market activity depends on the beginning of construction of houses and other factors that will take some time, so it is not particularly unexpected for anyone that for now things remain rather slow.

The prices, however, have been appreciating all this while.  According to Muhammad Irfan of AA Enterprises, the prices saw a large jump earlier in the year. However, since then the appreciation has been slow. The prices currently stand as follows:

Future prospects

When asked about when the market is going to see an upturn, all the sources agreed that no certain dates can be given for that just yet. As explained earlier, the market activity will depend on when houses start being constructed. Irfan, as well as Asif Butt of Al Israr Estate & Builders, explained that the issue for now, as far as concerns the construction of houses, is that most of the owners of the plots are foreign office employees who are actually posted abroad. Butt felt that indeed there may be some who may not even have seen their plots yet. Particularly since the owners are well-off – in a large number of cases they are high officials in the foreign ministry – they have holding power, and they don’t need their plots immediately. This is one reason why things are progressing rather slowly.

In general, Awais Khan of MAS Property Services felt the housing scheme is well-developed but it still needs gas. The same opinion was expressed by Irfan. The latter indeed felt that one might consider shifting a higher share of their investments into FOECHS once the gas is available.

Access to the rest of the city is something that can also be improved in the case of FOECHS, and the hopes for FOECHS plot-owners are pinned on Rawalpindi Ring Road, which is expected to be a game-changer for FOECHS in terms of ease of accessibility to the rest of the city.

Have you bought a plot in FOECHS? Do you have any questions about it? You can talk to us in the comments section. You can also head to the Zameen Forum for a more extensive discussion.