Pakistani houses are biggest in the world
Housing stock in Pakistan
Pakistani housing stock consists of houses, villas, farmhouses and apartments. Most people in Pakistan buy the land and build their own houses. Flats are only popular in Karachi and Islamabad. People love to own a large size house. Large villa or house is the symbol of wealth in Pakistan. Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad have 1000s of property millionaires like New York and London.
Average house size in Pakistan
In Pakistan, land or lot size is measured in term of Marla or Kanal. 1 Marla is equal to 225 square feet and I Kanal is equal to 20 Marla or 4500 square feet. Popular lot sizes in Pakistan are 5 Marla, 10 Marla and 1 Kanal. Average lot size in Pakistan is 15 Marla. Whereas average covered area of a house in Pakistan is 3000 square feet. In Pakistan, house size is measured by lot size, but worldwide house size is measured by covered area. Therefore according to the world standards, average house size in Pakistan is 3000 square feet.
Average house size in the world
Average house size in the world is 1200 square feet approximately. Smallest houses are in Hong Kong 495 square feet, whereas largest houses are in Australia 2400 square feet. This clearly shows that Pakistani average house is 2.5 times bigger than the average house in the world.
House size depends on population density (people living on per kilometer square)
One major factor that defines the house size of any region is the population density. Countries with large houses have less population and ample land like Canada, USA and Australia. On the other hand, countries with small size houses have less land and high population density like Japan, Hong Kong and Britain. Population density of Pakistan is 235. Our population density is similar to UK and Germany but Pakistani houses are 3 times bigger than these countries.
History of large houses in Pakistan
During Mughal and Sikh periods, city houses were very small. Cities were fortified and space was very limited. This trend changed when British government demolished the fortified walls of major cities. British government started the large size housing societies. Model Town Lahore was developed in 1921. Average lot size of Model Town at that time was one acre. Pakistan also imported USA houses in 1960s, during the times of President Ayub Khan. American villas and mansions, designed by the famous architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, were copied. We can see many 2-4 Kanal houses of that time in Pakistan. Large houses were normal at that time as Pakistani population was just 60 million. Now population is 200 million but we are still building large houses on valuable agricultural land.