Average houses size in Pakistan is 3000 square feet, whereas average house size in the world in 1200 square feet. This clearly shows that an average Pakistani house is 2.5 times bigger than the average house in the world.
Reasons of large houses in Pakistan
There are three main reasons of large house building in Pakistan. First one is the joint family system. Joint families need more space and large houses. Second reason is the show of wealth. Large houses are symbol of wealth in Pakistan and everyone wants the large house. Third reason is the absence of luxury home tax in Pakistan. There is no proper tax on large size houses in Pakistan, whereas in developed countries there are luxury and mansion taxes.
Problems of large houses
Large houses have many problems. First problem is that large houses have higher maintenance costs. Large houses cannot be maintained without servants. Servants are becoming unaffordable due to the rising salaries. Second problem is that large houses and housing societies are expanding cities in area. It is difficult for the government to develop infrastructure of expanding cities. Third problem is that large houses and housing societies are consuming valuable agricultural land. The way our population is increasing, Pakistan will need to import wheat by 2025. Therefore we immediately need to save the valuable agricultural land.
We need to promote small house building in Pakistan
This is the right time to start building small houses in Pakistan. Small houses will solve many problems of Pakistan. Small houses are less expensive and we can build lot of houses to solve housing shortage in Pakistan. We need vertical housing in form of flats. This will save valuable land for agriculture, parks and re-creational areas. Unless we start building our communities on sustainable development principles, future of our generations is dark.