Gulberg Islamabad Pricing Strange? - What are the reasons?

Regarding the Gulberg Islamabad small plots pricing. The location seems well with the highway etc...The official booking were are at 13 lakhs, but people are selling them at around 9-12 lakhs with all fees inclusive? Prices have appeared to have dropped for some reason...Is this is a good sign? Have development stopped or something? Is it a good investment?or have all Zone 5 prices dropped or is it just gulberg?

Does anyone have any knowledge on this particular topic?

Dear abdul ali Few months ago in a discussion that point was mentioned gulberg booking price was too high and due to powerful marketing of star marketing people booked plots there location of gulberg residencia is not on highway its almost 5 to 6 km inside from highway. Usually star marketing projects dropped there rates because they sale it just on there marketing tools.

Yes, the marketing for gulberg was very powerful indeed. When i visited about 2.5 years ago, the whole of main blue area road up to f-10 was taken by gulberg advertisements. Tv commercials were also very attractive.

Some of my family members discussed the possibility of buying over there, but i told them of my view that zone 2 is preferable for investment. In my view even the choice of name 'gulberg' has an impact. Until the nineties, gulberg lahore was supposedly the most upscale residential locality of lahore (the way f-7 is now in islamabad). Now it is commercialized.

Some time back my family members bought in dha valley due to the dha name. But it has taken too much time and dha is not accepting the last installment on the plots because if it takes the last installment, then they will have a claim against dha. But the plot owners are hoping for the best for dha valley. Sooner or later it will materialize inshaallah.

Nowadays, the marketing of gulberg islamabad is much slower as compared to 2 years ago. You cannot find as many billboards as before because they managed to sell most of it in the initial marketing thrust. Now the file holders are selling some gulberg properties (for example farmhouses) at a lower price than they paid.

Thanks syed and pk1 for your replies. Prices still seem to be a little steep, considering you can buy jkchs right next door for half the price and its just as a big name of a brand.

U r right abdul ali but there is a big difference between jkchs and gulberg. Gulberg started there own gulberg expressway from main highway uptill there residencia project however jkchs announced many times that they will start there main road from zone 4 agro farms but still no practical work

Its all about marketing … Asap another wave of heavy marketing campaign is launched you will see another jump till the marketing lasts.

Putting marketing aside, the location seems to be well, however, will their be a dip in zone 5, when the new airport is operational? So will this affect gulberg? Is gulberg a good short term investment and how far have they got in terms of the development?

I think gulberg is not good for short term investment. The location is not that good as mentioned above. But it can be seen for long term investment, once the development is completed and possession is handed over, then the prices will surely go up.

I think there were two kinds of bookings in gulberg. One who got from star marketing, and one who were employees of ib and got direct allotment from ib. Since the ib employess were allotted these plots at a much lower price, they are probably willing to sell at a discount to the current rate of star (which is 1.7 million for 30*60). But another reason could be that these ib allotted files are Only files without balloting, where you do not know the location, it could be in some far off block.

Location wise i think gulberg is one of the better locations in zone v, since the main entrance is just 1.5km from koral/ airport chowk (which in itself is 10 km from zero point), and normally the traffic is reasonably flowing uptill koral chowk (from zero point), since it is almost 4 lanes in that direction, if you include the heavy traffic lane. I think on the gulberg expressway (200 foot wide), the 6 km distance from the isb expressway to gulberg residencia shouldn't take more than 7-8 mins.

I am not sure about short term (1 year) outlook, but certainly in medium term (2-3 years) time, when they have the bridges and roads in place (also if they can connect to tramri chowk / park road which will allow it an alternative route to downtown isb, bypassing the highway, i see it as a much better option to other zone v societies.

As the population increases further in zone v, the 6-8 km extra on the narrow road after koral check can easily take an extra 20 mins. So location wise gulberg will be more preferable.

Also their farm house location is very appealing, right at the entrance to the isb expressway. Overall i think it has many things going for it. That is the reason more than 5000 people have booked plots there. But as with everything in pakistan there are always risks weather the society will be able to develop and maintain that development. I have a feeling that since it is the ib of pakistan, they will be able to come up with the funds some how. Another thing is that most of the roads etc are already there for some of the earlier blocks. And you can clearly see the work on the ground.

Dear fcc, we all also hope that the management of gulberg lives to the expectations and delivers what they have committed. This will be very beneficial to the allottees. Thanks

So how far have they gone in terms of development? Is it worth it, as it does seem to be another marketing ploy, similar to Roshan Pakistan. Location does seem well since its off the highway, similar to soan gardens.

However, Gulberg is well known in Lahore. As PK1 mentioned, since a reputable company starts in another place you expect the same standards i.e dha valley

I felt like investing there and visited the site. The thing that looked fishy to me was that the farm houses are supposed to be built in the way from the main road to gulberg’s plots. As far as i understand the farm houses are supposed to be away from the main roads (1. Privacy and peaceful environment and 2. The owners have their own conveyance so small distances do not matter). The thing that refrained me was what if the project of farm houses is merely for deception. Anyway let’s see what happens. You can never predict anything in pk.

Salman your point related to farm houses is very much correct. I think the residencia should have been first as compared to farm houses.

Not heard any latest news about development. So if the development is going very fast and state of the art, then i think this will make up for the location planning mishaps.

Also is this the same gulberg as Lahore? As the booking prices were high to start off with before star marketing were given the project.

I feel if u want safe and sound farm house project for investment and living,then multi professional project of islamabad orchard is best.Their development is going with good pace and they ll give possession after one year. In other scheme u ll always puzzle abt the development and possession but this project is of multi which is most reliable company in islamabad.So why we should play blindly.

Thank you brother zaheer for your input, however, islamabad orchard maybe a safe investment and state of the art development. But its very distant and prices are very steep! Mpchs is out of the question!

Passed by gulberg greens, few days back, development work seem to be going relatively well. By that i mean that there was an abundance of heavy machinery moving about the site. Probably because the isb highway is full of ads for the greens project "launching soon". Regarding the progress on the quaid-e-azam bridge which is under construction on the gulberg expressway, they had the girders for the pillars installed about 1/3 of the total height it appeared. Probably still a few months before they get it operational.

Dear fcc,

What is the difference between gulberg and gulberg green?

Thanks

Ihsan, Gulberg greens is the farm house project (plot size starting from 4kanal, location near to isb expressway), whereas the gulberg residencia starts where greens ends, has smaller plots (starting from 8 marla, location 6-7 km from isb expressway).