What Lahore Ring Road’s Southern Loop means for Lahore’s realty market

On 22^nd December 2017, CM Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated Lahore Ring Road’s Southern Loop, circulating around the city of Lahore. This loop spans over 22.4 kilometres and consists of three interchanges, SL I-III, out of which the first two, SL I and SL II, have been opened.

The opening of this road has paved the way for far-off housing societies and locales to readily access the entire city. The opening of this extensive road network has allowed for a total revamp of the city’s realty markets, adding value to the properties along this route.

While most of these are projections, it can be said that in the near future the entire area is going to greatly benefit from this, taking Lahore’s realty to new heights. This report looks at real estate experts’ opinions on the benefits associated with this loop and examines further how the entire property market would emerge in the coming years.

According to Jamil Ahmed from Al Ahmad Real Estate, the opening of the Southern Loop of Lahore Ring Road seems promising, however, no such effect on buying has been observed up until now. He talked about Lake City and added that people have yet not realised or understood the effect of this and that it will take some more months for the overall buying to take any toll of this. He believes that the prevalent market conditions aren’t suitable for most investors because of which they remain inactive. This opinion was also shared by Hamza Malik from Siddique Associates.

Hamza Malik believes that the opening of this Southern Loop hasn’t caught the attention of most investors because the market has already been stable for some months, and for it to grow, the overall economic conditions would have to improve first. However, he added that most genuine buyers have remained active throughout this period owing to lower prices, which indicates a buying period. Adding to this, Jamil Ahmed said that buyers are more interested in 10-marla plots in Lake City because of their price competitiveness.

Hamza Malik had observed that throughout this market stability genuine buyers remained intact, because of lowered prices. He added that the same trend is still going strong; however, can’t be attributed to the opening of this Southern Loop. He expects the market to kick off by the end of this year, during which he believes that the economy would be on a better track. Jamil Ahmed is also optimistic specifically because of the Ring Road which is expected to help 100,00 commuters reach their destination each day.

An interesting observation by Jamil Ahmed is that the developers of housing complexes should develop the societies first and only then expect prices to increase. He believes that developments like Lahore Ring Road etc. are external developments and won’t effect the realty market as such until the complexes themselves develop first.

Waqas Gulzar of Universal Property Network has added that the first two interchanges have greatly benefited the housing societies around Multan Road. He is of the view that as soon as the third interchange opens, there would be a more rapid flow of buying, especially in Bahria Town, where prices have already started to increase. However, he added that the full scale of this will only be visible in about a year, and not before that.

Lahore Ring Road Southern Loop is another exciting addition to the city that is rapidly modernising. It is a promising venture and will only increase the value of real estate venturing in the city.

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