ISLAMABAD; In a major move, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has revised assessment/ valuation rates of the property in almost all major cities of Pakistan excluding Sargodha and Karachi. The valuation/ assessment of property for Karachi and Sargodha will be notified in the second phase.
The FBR issued a formal notification of the new rates of assessment/ valuation of the property here on Wednesday.
According to the notification, FBR has also added 19 new cities in the list for which property valuation rates have been revised upward. With addition of 19 new cities, the number of cities where new property rates will apply has gone to 40. The notification said the FBR added 13 new cities of Punjab, 3 of Sindh , 2 of Khyber Pukhtunkhaw (KPK) and 1 city of Balochistan in the list for sale and purchase of property at the new rates. The new rates of the property will be effective forthwith.
The FBR raised rates of valuation of property from 10 to 100 %. In some cities, the increase is even 250 %. For example , for F-7 and F- 6 sectors of Islamabad the rates of valuation of property have been increased from Rs 96,000 per square yard to Rs 250,000 per square yard which ahow increase of 300 %.
Such a major jump in valuation rates may prove counterproductive. It will, for sure, irritate the traders who had agreed with the government to raise valuation price of property in major cities in phases. It will also slow down the pace of construction work in the country.
Rana Akram, the spokesman of realtors association of Pakistan said the realtors had agreed with the government to increase 10 % value price of property on yearly basis to bring in at par with the open market, but FBR went for solo flight to increase the valuation rates of property at unbelievable level. FBR act of revising the valuation rates of peoperty without consulting with realtors was a serious concern for us, Rana Akram asserted.