Why DHA and Bahria Town Are Inflating Pakistan's Housing Market
A 5-marla now costs 25 years of median salary. The math should not be possible.
A 5-marla house in Bahria Town Lahore in 2025 costs roughly PKR 21.6 million (~$77,000). Pakistan's median monthly salary is about $254. That is 25 years of median salary for a small starter house. The United States, by comparison, takes 5 to 7 years.
This piece sits inside the Why Pakistan's Remittance Economy Is a Development Trap cluster, under the broader Pakistan Brain Drain: The Graveyard of Remittancers pillar.
The current price tags
Bahria Town Lahore, 2025:
| Property | Price |
|---|---|
| 5-marla house | PKR 21.6 million (~$77,000) |
| 10-marla house | PKR 37.6 million (~$135,000) |
| 1-kanal house | PKR 70+ million (~$250,000+) |
DHA prices in Lahore, Karachi, and Islamabad run higher still in established phases.
The salary the prices have to clear
Pakistan's median monthly salary in 2024-25 was approximately $254 (PKR ~71,000). Average monthly salary was around $296. A senior engineer earns PKR 150,000 to 250,000 per month. A mid-career doctor earns PKR 200,000 to 300,000 per month.
Convert the housing prices into "years of median salary":
- 5-marla in Bahria Town: ~25 years
- 10-marla in Bahria Town: ~45 years
- 1-kanal in Bahria Town: ~80+ years
How that compares globally
| Country | Average urban home / median salary |
|---|---|
| Vietnam | 5 to 8 years |
| United States | 5 to 7 years |
| Bangladesh | 7 to 10 years |
| India (major cities) | 10 to 15 years |
| Pakistan (DHA / Bahria Town) | 25 to 45+ years |
Pakistan has worse housing affordability than the United States. Not because Pakistanis are unusually poor, but because diaspora dollars and elite capital have inflated property prices beyond what working Pakistanis can pay.
The remittance dollars driving it
Industry reports document the diaspora capture of high-end real estate explicitly. Union Developers' Property Market Report from November 2025: "In October 2025 alone, $3.4 billion in remittance inflows were recorded, a 12 percent increase from the previous year. Much of it went into verified, high-trust projects, such as DHA and Bahria Town."
Narkin's Builders Industry Analysis projected that "by 2026, diaspora buyer volumes will represent 25 to 30 percent of luxury apartment sales in gated communities."
The mechanism is simple. Overseas Pakistanis with foreign salaries (US, UK, Gulf) have dollar income. They look at investment options at home and conclude:
- Banking deposits = rupee-denominated, eaten by inflation
- Stock market = volatile, suspect, illiquid
- Productive business = trust deficit, power outages, currency risk
- Real estate in DHA / Bahria Town = physical asset, military or politically connected developer, perceived rule-of-law cover
So the dollars converge on real estate. And the prices respond.
The DHA empire
Defence Housing Authority (DHA) operates in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Gujranwala, Peshawar, and Quetta. It operates under special legal status protecting it from normal government oversight. Originally housing for retired military officers, it has expanded into commercial real estate empires. Plots are allocated to officers at subsidised rates and sold at market value.
A Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) analysis published in August 2025 , "Pakistan's military economy: An empire thriving amid national ruin" , documented that "historical data indicates that over half a million acres of land were granted to senior officers between 1985 and 2005, perpetuating wealth concentration within the military elite and pricing ordinary citizens out of housing markets."
The Bahria Town empire
Bahria Town is Pakistan's largest private real estate developer. It has deep, longstanding connections with military leadership and political families.
The Pakistan Supreme Court in 2019 approved a PKR 460 billion (~$3 billion) settlement with Bahria Town Karachi after ruling that thousands of acres had been illegally acquired. Bahria Town continues to operate and expand despite these rulings.
The two largest "high-trust" Pakistani real estate brands have origin stories built on land grants and contested acquisitions. This is the trust regime diaspora dollars are buying into.
What this does to ordinary Pakistanis
The housing inflation is not an abstraction. It compounds across the economy.
Renters get squeezed. Rising property prices push up rents. Pakistani households spend a growing share of income on rent in major cities.
First-time buyers cannot enter. A salaried engineer earning PKR 200,000 per month cannot save fast enough to outpace property appreciation. Each year delayed makes the gap worse.
Inheritance becomes the only path. Home ownership in Pakistani cities increasingly requires either family wealth, dowry-derived capital, or diaspora dollars. Salaried meritocracy is priced out.
Productive capital gets diverted. Money that could have funded factories, software companies, or biotech labs gets parked in concrete instead.
In closing
The headline number is $38.5 billion in remittances. The hidden number is the quarter-century of median salary it now costs to buy a small starter house in a major Pakistani city.
The two numbers are linked. The remittance dollar that lands in Bahria Town's escrow account this month is a brick in the wall the next generation of working Pakistanis cannot climb over.
This is not a market failure. It is the predictable outcome of a system that channels diaspora wealth into rent-extraction projects rather than productive industries. Until that channel changes, the affordability gap will keep widening.
, Asad Baig
Frequently asked questions
How much does a 5-marla house cost in Bahria Town Lahore? A 5-marla house in Bahria Town Lahore in 2025 costs roughly PKR 21.6 million (~$77,000). Pakistan's median monthly salary is approximately $254, which means a 5-marla costs ~25 years of median salary.
Why is Pakistani housing so unaffordable? Diaspora remittance dollars and elite capital have inflated property prices in DHA, Bahria Town, and other gated communities far beyond what Pakistani salaries can support. Pakistan now has worse housing affordability than the United States despite being far poorer.
How much diaspora money goes into Pakistani real estate? Industry reports estimate 15 to 25 percent of every remittance dollar flows into real estate. Narkin's Builders projected diaspora buyers will represent 25 to 30 percent of luxury apartment sales in gated communities by 2026.
What is DHA in Pakistan? The Defence Housing Authority (DHA) is a Pakistan military-affiliated real estate developer operating in major cities. It originated as housing for retired officers and has expanded into commercial real estate, with special legal status protecting it from normal oversight.
What happened to Bahria Town in the 2019 Supreme Court ruling? In 2019, the Pakistan Supreme Court approved a PKR 460 billion (~$3 billion) settlement with Bahria Town Karachi after ruling thousands of acres had been illegally acquired. Bahria Town continues to operate and expand despite the ruling.
Sources and notes
- Union Developers' Property Market Report , November 2025
- Narkin's Builders Industry Analysis , December 2025
- Chohan Estate Real Estate Market Overview , 2025
- Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) , "Pakistan's military economy: An empire thriving amid national ruin," August 2025
- Pakistan Supreme Court , 2019 Bahria Town Karachi ruling
- First Post investigation
- Sunday Guardian investigations
- Ayesha Siddiqa , "Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy" (2017)
- Consortium for Development Policy Research (CDPR) , "The Precarious Housing Situation in Pakistan," July 2025
- TimeCamp Average Salary Pakistan 2024
- Time Doctor Pakistan Salary Analysis 2025
Related reading
Pillar: Pakistan Brain Drain: The Graveyard of Remittancers Parent cluster: Why Pakistan's Remittance Economy Is a Development Trap
Sibling spokes:
- How Much Does Pakistan Receive in Remittances Each Year
- Where Does Pakistani Remittance Money Actually Go
- What Is Hawala and How Much Pakistani Remittance Is Off the Books
Other pillars:
- The Human Cost of Pakistan's Brain Drain
- Why Pakistani Workers Earn Less Than Indians in the Gulf
- The Real Brain Gain Plan
Thank you for reading.
, Asad Baig
Asad Baig