Pakistan disburses Rs104 billion in Apna Ghar housing loans to nearly 18,000 families in six months
Disbursements under the Prime Minister's Apna Ghar Programme have surged 404 per cent since June, reaching Rs104 billion through 17,697 loans as of 30 October, the finance minister's adviser says.
Pakistan's affordable housing drive has crossed a major milestone, with more than Rs100 billion in subsidised home loans now reaching families across the country within six months of the scheme's launch. The figures, shared by the government's finance team on Thursday, point to a programme gathering pace far faster than its early months suggested, and to a housing market that officials now see as a lever for wider economic growth.
The Prime Minister's Apna Ghar Programme has disbursed Rs104 billion — about $376 million — through 17,697 housing loans as of 30 October, according to Khurram Schehzad, adviser to the finance minister. He shared the update in an interview and in a post on X, describing the milestone as the translation of the government's affordable housing commitments into tangible results for ordinary families.
The scale of the acceleration is striking. Disbursements stood at just Rs21 billion at the end of June, meaning the amount paid out to borrowers has risen by 404 per cent in four months. Approvals have grown almost as fast: financing of Rs533 billion has now been approved across 90,405 applications, up 269 per cent from Rs144 billion in June, with an approval rate of 41 per cent. In total, the programme has received 220,715 applications since it began.
Launched in April, the scheme offers first-time homeowners loans of up to Rs10 million — roughly $36,144 — at subsidised interest rates, aimed at families struggling to buy or build a home as property prices climb and affordable financing remains scarce. The government has allocated Rs3.2 trillion to support the five-year programme, and has set a target of financing 150,000 homes by June 2027.
Schehzad credited the State Bank of Pakistan, the Pakistan Banks' Association, participating banks and the Ministry of Housing and Works with implementing the initiative, which is being run under the leadership of Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. The House Building Finance Company is also among the institutions taking part in delivering the loans.
The finance adviser's argument for the scheme goes beyond homeownership. Construction, he said, can lift economic growth by stimulating the industries around it — from cement and steel to furniture, fittings and skilled labour — making housing finance a tool of economic policy as well as social policy. That logic has been echoed in government meetings in recent days, where the prime minister has pressed the State Bank and the Federal Board of Revenue to clear financing bottlenecks for housing, small businesses and exporters.
The pace of the rollout also reflects a deliberate push to widen access to credit. At a meeting chaired by the prime minister earlier this week, officials were told that housing approvals had already reached Rs511 billion by 23 October, covering nearly 87,000 applications, and that the government would not extend concessions to banks slow in lending to farmers, small businesses and Apna Ghar beneficiaries. The message from the top has been consistent: the scheme must reach the families it was designed for.
For the families themselves, the numbers translate into something simpler — a first home. With loans capped at Rs10 million and rates subsidised, the programme targets low- and middle-income households that have long found formal housing finance out of reach, relying instead on savings, family support or informal borrowing to build or buy.
Challenges remain. Only a fraction of approved financing has so far reached borrowers — Rs104 billion disbursed against Rs533 billion approved — and sustaining the pace will depend on banks continuing to process applications quickly and on the government's subsidy bill staying affordable. The rapid growth in applications also tests the system's capacity to verify and approve cases without long delays.
Even so, the latest figures mark the programme's strongest showing yet. From a standing start in April to more than Rs100 billion disbursed by the end of October, Apna Ghar has become one of the government's most visible economic initiatives — and, if the momentum holds, one of its largest channels for putting credit into the hands of ordinary Pakistanis. Figures checked at 1:55 a.m. PKT on 6 November 2026.
This post is market news information only, not financial advice.
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