Hello,
After residing for 5 decades in karachi, my family has decided to move islamabad. The couple of reasons involved in relocation are: overpopulation, piles of trash, broken roads, safety, and poor air quality.
We live here in dha karachi. We are unaware of islamabad's neighborhood.
What are some good places to live in islamabad?
Thank you!
Dear Noman,
1--Dha Phase-2
2-Bahria Phase 1 to 6
3-Bahria Phase-7 and Phase-8
In my view above are best for living purpose safe and with all basic facilities.
It all depend on your budget and your choice of location.
Regards
Dear Noman
For good living and best price appreciation; CDA's VIP sectors to be selected, such as F-11 etc.
For price appreciation and best living with security, all utilities and maintenance DHAs and BTs should be your choice.
In CDAs, security, services are poor and no maintenance at all but if you have school going kids, sacrifice water supply, late night family walks and much more...FG schools are still best and pick n drop is there.
In BTs and DHAs now thefts been reported but for sure snatch lifting not possible.
If you provide more info, help could be better
Noman sb, wish you the best for residential transition and hopefully move to ISB fits your expectations!
Some of the reasonable options are shared by fellow forumers above based on info you shared.
To be more objective and precise, other factors will help to pinpoint exact areas. Otherwise it could be wild random shots. Factors like:
- Budget (most important)
- Preferred distance of accommodation from point A to B
- Size of Home
- Living cost etc. etc.
Some basic reasons you mentioned like over-populated, air quality etc. Capital Development Authority's (CDA's) Zone 4, Zone 5 are good in that, generally speaking.
CDA Zones: http://www.cda.gov.pk/housing/ictmap.asp#
There can be minor differences in KHI to ISB real estate market, one of them being Apartments that sell good in KHI but are not preferred in ISB, unfortunately! Its a good idea, like you shared to do a bit of research, give yourself time to acquire that fits your needs!
----------------
For ISB, the benchmark for neighbourhoods and accessibility is marked from place 0-Point (ref. to Google Maps)
CDA sectors, DHA and Bahria Town must be your top priority if you have good budget. There are some other options as well like purchasing big sized plot/home at low prices in areas like Bani Gala, & Gulberg Farm Houses(Not so cheap). Bani Gala is peaceful with some of the most beautiful scenery as well. Try exploring Pepsi Road at Bani Gala where you can buy 1 Kanal land at 120 lacs to 150 lacs.
It would really help the senior forum members if you could write a list of things that are most important to you in order of preferance and hopefully this will allow the gurus and senior members of this forum to provide you with their insight. Abdul Qayyum sahib, Imtiaz sahib, Nadeem Ahmed sahib and Ehtisham sahib have already given you very useful pointers and I am sure as always they will be ready to help you further once they know your more specific requirements.
Thank you everyone for your responses. After reading all of them, I would like to go on with the requirements to searching the right property for myself and my family.
Safety, facilities (it doesn't have to be in the commercial zone, but gas, electric, water, and internet are necessary), a little away from crowd, nearby hills, huge family, so looking for a big area, and looking to make a huge garden in front of home to have a scenery look from the place.
Thank you once again!
Noman
A Karachitte is not a sub-urban person by nature. He/she wants to live where the life is. So whatever social life in Islamabad, it's high-end is concentrated in F sectors (F6, F7, F8, F9, F10, F-11) or their equivalent new sectors (E-11 and D12). I-8 is also an option but it's too dead !
DHAs in Islamabad (actually those are in Rawalpindi) are not the same as DHA Karachi.
The other possibility is Bahria Town phase 7 or 8, which is another city, bustling and thriving.
Zone 4/5 of CDA fit the bill! Sounds like pretty much a house of 1 Kanal or more.
-- In particular, the likes of Bahria Enclave, Park View (3+ years) calm surroundings, hill views, gradually improving accessibility with quality and amenities.
-- Gulberg Residencia, good enough and green with decent underground water bank and quite accessible!
-- Bahria Rawalpindi, likes of Garden City, Overseas etc. pretty much same category but quite off from mainstream city and at times traffic gets night marish!
-- Bani Gala but that like open land and small societies but well worth the explore ...
Is the gas available in Bahria Enclave and Park View City?
Good question! here is the ground situation:
==> Bahria Enclave: Gas Available = Yes & No
-- No Gas Available via Supply Lines except only in fewest streets (may be just a couple if I am not wrong)
-- Yes Gas Cylinders provided by management and haven't heard of any issue or interruption with that as of now.
**BE is trying best to get CDA NOC that was revoked. To get that,
-- It has already done and in process of surrendering too much commercial and now started to sell that land reserved for commercial as residential plots on deals and instalments on almost all main blocks.
-- The critical factor is Politics and Rivalry and Aleem Khan (Park View City) as direct competitor will only thrive to the point BE has no NOC. Till Allem is in power, things will be hard for Enclave and Park View did everything to get NOC and Access. Rest is a straight line race for Park View to outsell BE from now on, till Aleem is in power!
==> Park View as mentioned 3+ years from now has a CDA NOC and it will have the Gas but as per rule, until a certain percentage of construction completed.
For last year+ new connections are banned, even if lines laid, unless one pays under the table. So it depends, the project may have lines laid but there is a backlog of Gas Connections since 2018.
====================
The actual equation: "Safety, gas, electric, water, and internet are necessary), a little away from crowd, nearby hills"
Getting 1 may comprise Option 2 or 3 or whatever combination. By taking a chance, the probability of Getting Gas Line is much higher than Establishing a Hill around :)
Getting uninterrupted Gas Supply by whatever means is even more important than Gas Lines as I have seen crazy expensive CDA and likes of Satellite Town having Gas Lines all around but with many Gas less evenings from Mid December to Feb End ...
B-17 also have nearby hills 
For sure Ammar sb, B-17 is fantastic but suits those better that are towards Wah & Taxila not that for mianstream ISB & RWP, especially the travel on GT road.
I am sure no one would like barren hills with stone crushing and dust when you can have the option of a comparatively greener hill in pretty much same bucks ... :)
Though there is SC order on that but not sure how much of that is implemented but the point remains, as far as hills they are mostly hard hills as a source of crushing rather than agro!
Agreed
Large plot options (2+ kanal) for a big house with lawn, pool, etc. Total luxury living.
Bahria Enclave: 2 kanal for 3.5 to 4.5 cror
Gulberg Greens: 4 to 5 kanal for 4.5 to 8.5 cror
MPCHS Orchards: 5 to 10 kanal for 1.5 to 3.5 cror
Locations & ambience:
BE: is in zone 4, village+scenic drive, mountain views. Drive time to city center 35 min.
GG: Off Islamabad highway, good clean access, green area but no mountains. Drive time to city center: 30 min
Orchards: Near Wah, on Islamabad-Peshawar motorway (M2). Open, green area, no mountain views, drive time to city center 45 min.
Damn! Seems like I have to consider several factors before moving there.
Alright! How about if I consider: gas, electric, and water availability 24 hours. Then safety and security. Now, what are my options?
Pretty much leaves only the BTs and DHs in that tight race ...
-------
More than many factors and undue complexity (avoiding over thinking) its just discussion about all possible options (best/worst cases scenarios) to reach a common denominator that best fits the criteria ...
All the best!
“Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM” was a quote from the 80s when IBM ruled the computer world… If we apply the same principle to property in Pindi/Islamabad at the moment I would say your safest bet is DHA 2 if you have the funds. Even if you do not like the place you will be able to sell it in a reasonable time and recoup your investment if you decide to move to a different location. Brother Abdul Qayyum is already living in DHA 2 and can probably provide you with more info on the benefits of living in DHA 2.
If budget is not a constraint and you want to enjoy the mainstream Islamabad life, eyes closed F-sector of CDA (Best are F-8, F-7, F-6).
If you have deep pocket, then you don't have to worry about security, amenities etc. Everything will be at your doorstep.
Second priority should be DHA-2.
Keep Bahria on last priority.
CDA Sectors F-6 to F-11 , E-7 & D-12 .
Bahria Enclave.
DHA-2
Top City
B-17