Sunday, May 27, 2012

Real Estate Investment in Basement Businesses

Basements are gaining traction in Pakistan as a best real estate investment. Basement are as commercial and retail spaces, and a as a result, they are no longer dingy areas without adequate ventilation or lighting. In fact, many new real estate developments, large and small, include pleasant, well ventilated, adequately lit basements with easily accessible entrances ad emergency exits.
The reason for this is that many commercial areas prohibit construction above a prescribed height, and in such cases, basements provide extra floor space, which means higher property value and rental yield for landlords amounting to approximately 10-15% more compared to buildings without basements. Furthermore, because basements are available at lower rental rates than ground level shops, they make better financial sense for small businesses.
Basements in Pakistan are usually used in two ways:
1. Parking or storage spaces in large and mid sized commercial buildings. Although parking space can be found in the basements of high-end shopping malls, retail businesses, restaurants/cafes and bakeries in mid-sized buildings usually rent or purchase ground-level shops that have an attached basement to use as storage space or kitchens.
2. Commercial/retail spaces in smaller buildings. An array of businesses are now housed in basements, small offices, clinics, salons, gyms, and even tuition centers are operating out of well designed basements in smaller, newer buildings.
Covered area of basements include: 80, 120, 160, 200, 300, 500, 600, 800  and 1,000 square feet.
The pricing structure (in rupees per square foot) for commercial/retail spaces is as follows:

City                               Purchase Price                  Monthly Rental
Karachi                             4,400-13,500                  17-18
Lahore                              5,120-13,700                   19-79
Islamabad                         5,600-14,400                    20-80

1 comment:

  1. Your article is really good it enhancing the awareness about the importance of real estate.

    aj

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