Hi! My question to all of senior members, is it the right time to buy property when rumours of us attack on Syria is on peak? Would it b an important factor to decline the property rates in future?... I m asking as I was thinking to invest more in property......I would appreciate if some one answers it...
Thanks
You want to invest in Syria?
The question of Nafees Sb is very pertinent to answer before we can proceed further on this discussion thread.
Regards
Usually in times of uncertainty commodity prices rise like oil and gold, so investing in commodities might be a wise choice especially in the unfortunate incidence of WAR breaking out.
Syria is geographically too far away from Pakistan to have any significant immediate impact on the property rates here. Unless the refugees coming out of Syria think that Pakistan is much better than Turkey or Jordan for their future lives and start investing in Bahria/DHA.
Overall I would say we are an optimistic bunch, even if the whole world is collapsing I would say property prices would continue rising here, since our population has not crossed that critical mass of intellectual ineptness, that stops the masses behaving like a herd
No Mr Nafees! Now you may proceed Mr Ihsan, as I've given answer to that pertinent question. :)
Thanks Mr FCC for clearing up the scenario, but it is really an issue some of friends of my husband asked him not to buy property due to current situation specially when Saudi gov gave her approval in favour of USA. In this case people usually hold money after any global disturbance.
I agree Tanya, people generally hold on to their savings in times of crisis. And it could be possible that oil increases to $150 /barrel, in case Iran gets involved. Other than OIL import bill increasing which I think would be temporary, I do not see Pakistan being affected by this crisis.
What CAN potentially lead to a slow down in the property market is the upcoming inflation wave due to rise in utility/petrol prices and the government taxation measures, which would adversely effect the middle class and their buying power. That I think is more of a potential crisis we should be talking about.
It is possible that the government raises the interest rates to double digits and maybe higher in the coming months and that would lead to investment again shifting to safe and secure government bonds. If you think back to early years of the last government, it was similar in the sense that we entered into an IMF program and for the next 3-4 years we saw relatively stable property prices, accompanied with a relatively high inflation.
You are right FCC, and thank you for the thorough analysis. I think one should switch over to smaller, lower budget plots for investment purpose in this scenario, as coming days are going to squeeze down average man's capacity to buy plot.
Thanks once again.