Future property trends regarding working from home or near home

Buying Property General Advice
#1

Covid-19 has fundamentally changed the property market in the uk and i am sure this will also apply equally to pakistan. It would be wise for esteemed forum members to see the new work/life trends that are emerging now on how people will live/work and use this knowledge to buy/invest in new projects or maybe start a whole new business idea.

The trend to work from home fully or partially is now irreverseble. Major uk companies have already confirmed to the bbc that they do not expect their staff to be returning to their offices on a full time basis. This means that most homes will have to adapt to having an office with all the necessary facilities e.G ups, fast broadband, noise proofing, meeting room etc.

This could lead to a business idea of opening an office sharing facility with good facilities/meeting rooms in all the bts,dhas,gg, be type places where office space can be rented on an hourly basis if necessary. These are already springing up in the uk and doing roaring business. Anybody in the house/commercial building business would need to take this into consideration as having such facilities in his property will no doubt give an edge and command a premium price/rent.

I would be interested to know how other zameen.Com forum members see this. Especially from @imtiaz, @abdulqayyum, @isloo, @ilyas

#2

Mr Rauf,

Thanks for raising such excellent points. Indeed, you are right that COVID-19 has altered the work paradigm and here in Pakistan, working from home in lockdown did bring new factors to light. Pakistan’s tendency towards long power outages, slow internet (PTCL! Ugh!) and noisy neighbourhoods did impact the work routine. However, the government did its role but the people here needed some adjusting to the whole concept – as this is not a common phenomenon here. Guys like us, especially those working in the fields, took a big hit. Imagine taking client calls with a baby crying in the back… There were some dark days!

However, I don’t think that the trend for remote working is here to stay in Pakistan (Not in these few years at least). Except maybe for the IT sector, most companies have already called the workers back to their offices.

As for the office sharing facilities in residential colonies, there has been some demand for that in the market, especially from freelancers. However, Pakistan still has a long way for that kind of essential investment to become ‘normal’.

#3

Shared work spaces, particularly for WFH arrangement may sound a good idea, but a number of factors to consider.

1. Usually in Pak, we tend to make homes with a dedicated drawing/dining, that can serve an isolated home office unless there is a dedicated "study" in the house. UK houses are compact and privacy/isolation is a luxury that most can not afford.

2. Work ethics are different in Pak. You have to literally breath down the necks to get the job done.

3. You can not make shared office in residential facility due to restrictions.

4. Commercials spaces for offices are rare and expensive. So the feasibility of shared offices based on occupancy rate has to be worked out.



#4

@Isloo1 Thanks for your kind input and I appreciate the points that you have made. There is a major shift happening right now in the London property market whereby tenants in flats are leaving in droves and mostly moving outside London within commuting distance to find homes with a garden and parking space. Since the UK lockdown has just been extended by another 6 months this will only accelerate this. Right now there is a glut of empty flats in central London. Companies are being advised to ask staff to work from home and as I said before things are highly unlikely to go back as before. I think there is an oversupply of commercials in places like Bahria Town (Phase 8 especially) hence the thought that these could be used for shared office working type facilities.

#5

@Rauf, I don't blame Londoners to abandon this gloomy, dirty and densely populated metropolis and move to open, green and peaceful landscape. I would've done that.

But average commute time in Islamabad is still not comparable to London to warrant a permanent WFH alternative. From the farthest point (BT-8, DHA, B-17, Wah, Chakri) to Blue Area, the maximum travel time is just 45 minutes.

But if you are considering to setup business of shared office facility, then don't get discouraged. It all depends how to package and market it. My points are just factors to consider. Successful businesses often defy common understanding and factors. All it takes is to be little eccentric.

#6

Rauf sb, interesting and refreshing topic to initiate and Isloo with valuable inputs.

*** Post COVID-19 context

Yes, post COVID-19 world will have some changes in particular virtual spaces (education, work, health) etc. Even the likes of traditional UN sessions, first time in the history, went through streaming sessions. Tech companies in the US, EU, elsewhere from decade+ already following the pattern of remote working for employees to save office spacing and importantly allowing employees to work best per their flexibility.

*** Re: Pakistan

-- Back in 2007/2008 due to lawyer moment, many software/tech companies around the Red Zone, in Software Technology Park (STP) in F-5 and Evacuee Trust allowed employees to work from home and it had no issues, temporirely.

-- Rauf sb what you have mentioned, I think Smart City ISB indicated something like Panda District (if I recall correctly) for compact office spaces with Pay as you Go. The model definielty awaiting a take-off in PAK.

*** Challenges

** Culture and Work Ethics
As Isloo mentioned for right and wrong reasons, employer is eager to keep an eye on all employees to directly monitor their progress on almost hourly basis even if its creative work like Services or Software Development. So the top management is always reluctant to allow flexibility of work spaces/times, no matter how impractical that may be.

** Network Infrastructures
For remote workspaces, 24x7 high bandwidth internet connectivity is the backbone an area where we lack. At best in ISB or alike big cities is private provider like NayaTel (Fibre Optics) but PTCL and many public sector are trying best to restrict them. So large part of big cities lack proper, high-end, reliable network infrastructures.

** Hierarchical Management
Work from home/remote locations team are self-managing and rely less on manager. Managers donot prefer such initiatives that shed of their managerial authorities. As stakeholders and decision maker, they are generally un-welcoming of such initiatives

----------------------
** Bottomline:

The business model in context of Pakistan is Brilliant and need of the hour. I think CSCI somehow proposed some block for such Rent a Workspace on Pay as you Go. However, some cultural, ethics and infrastructure issues may get such initiatives delayed.

Great thread and look forward to see valuable inputs from other valuable forumers!

#7

@ Imtiaz sahib and @Isloo1 sahib thanks much for your feedback which is appreciated.

I recently met a friend who has been doing software business in Pak for a few years now and he has moved to Gulberg Greens from Bahria P8 since according to him the commute times for Islamabad where most of his clients are based is far less from GG and the insfrastructure there is also much better. Most of his developers are working from home (from which areas I do not know) but they have regular update meetings at his flat in GG. I did ask him about the availability and quality of broadband services and he advised me these were adequate but you are 100% spot on that Electricty supply and broadband availability/quality are key to any such business venture.

I fully understand the mentality regarding not having managerial oversight over your employees but this I beleive will change over the course of time. Over the past 6 months video services such as Google Meet, Zoom and Microsoft Teams have kept the whole nation working and studying in UK. I saw this first hand as I was helping my youngest son with his online meetings and was very impressed how quickly both teachers and students adapted.

#8

@Isloo1 & @Imtiaz, thank you for your above analysis in which you both made excellent observations. This forum is a brilliant place for sharing ideas. I did write a detailed reply but for some reason it is “pending editorial approval” by Zameen.com which I find strange as this has now happened to me quite a few times…

#9

Any lengthy post with details goes into pending approval when the spammers post whatever they want.


Advice to avoid that: Whenever writing a post

-- Type any Character like .
-- Post it
-- Use Edit Option to Write the intended post.

Works 10/10 :)

#10

Rauf sb

Thanks for initializing such a needful subject, for Pakistan, under discussion.

My nephew who is a fresh graduate has actually been using a " co-working" place which is set up in Islamabad. The infrastructure is mind boghling advanced, aesthetic, built with all the resources of modern IT techniques.

He is paying only Rs 7,000 per month and his rented place is opened for him on 24/7.

Even open space, which is being utilized has all stuff water proof, clean and tidy.
There are conference rooms and whatever you think, has been made available.

The investor is so much successful that He is now branching out his product to bahria phase-8 and other places as well.

Lot of small businesses have rented " coworking places" to utilize the fully self sufficient working infrastructure for their staff. Nice cafeterias and friendly environment can be seen there.

I think this idea will cascade further and big boys will realize to adopt the idea on large scale.

Here is what I have seen to my surprise in the capital and proving very lucrative for the investors.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1neY5EC8_XKCgXqvPWoomBiRKMShP12FM

#11

Thank you AQ sb for adding to the contents and as usual, sharing the images, whenever you can!

A Guru remains the Guru :)

#12

Thanks Imtiaz sb

#13

AQ sb. Very nice :slight_smile:

#14

Thanks Khalid sb.

#15

@Abdul Qayyum sahib, thanks much for your reply and the images you have posted are indeed very impressive. I am pleased to see that somebody has already succesfully taken up this idea and converted it into a fully fledgling business which is the need of the hour. I hope/pray this will be most beneficial to young entrepeneurs in Pakistan who might not have had the funds to start their business with a proper office type facilities. Like you I also beleive this concept of working will grow and grow as already witnessed in the west. I also beleive that people like yourself who are also property developers will have an edge in the market if you develop your residential and commercial properties with home working type facilities in mind. I hope that the next advert I see for any residential and commercial property also mentions the quality of broadband in that area as this is now a key feature along with water, gas and electricity.

Get the Zameen App

Buy and Rent Property faster and better
using our app.
Scan the QR code to
get the app

Get Connected

© 2007– Zameen.com. All rights are reserved.