DHA Islamabad-Rawalpindi — One Brand, Two Regulators
The same phase name is regulated and taxed two different ways depending which side of a boundary your block sits on. Nobody publishes the two tables together. Here they are.
DHA Islamabad-Rawalpindi is not one thing. Its land straddles the boundary between Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi District, Punjab — and that is not a map curiosity. It means two statutes, two approving authorities and, provably, two different tax valuations for blocks carrying the same phase name.
Every portal and dealer page we checked describes it as one scheme, “CDA/RDA approved”. None of them shows you what follows from the split. This page does, because FBR’s own two tables prove it.
What the record actually says
| Fact | What the source says |
|---|---|
| Authority, ICT side | The Defence Housing Authority Islamabad Act, 2013 (Act XII of 2013) makes DHA its own approving authority for its specified area. This is why DHA does not appear in CDA’s register of private housing schemes — expected, not a red flag. |
| Authority, Rawalpindi side | Blocks inside Rawalpindi District fall under Punjab’s own framework, with planning oversight running through the Rawalpindi Development Authority rather than DHA’s board. CDA and DHA publish no joint boundary map, so which side a specific block sits on is a question for the transfer office, not for a website. |
| CDA register | DHA Phases 1–5, DHA Valley and DHA Phase 6 appear in neither of CDA’s lists — not the 70 registered private schemes, not the 98 it calls illegal. |
| Possession, Phase 6 / Valley | Possession ceremonies covering roughly 10,000 plots across DHA Phase 6 and DHA Valley sectors (Bougainvillea, Oleander, Lily, Rose, Bluebell, Daffodils) were reported for 30 January 2026. Reported by dealer sources; we found no primary DHA or RDA notice, so treat the date as indicative. |
Names drift here. Sources use “Phase 6”, “Phase 7” and “DHA Valley” for overlapping things. Ask which sector, not which phase.
The proof the split is real, from FBR’s own tables. FBR values DHA twice, under two separate notifications. On the Rawalpindi table, DHA Phase-II residential open plot is Rs 2,878 per square foot — about Rs 25,900 a square yard. On the Islamabad table, the block-level entry for DHA-II Block-A is Rs 57,400 per square yard. That is more than double, for blocks sharing a phase name. FBR is not double-listing the same land; it is taxing two different sets of blocks under two different regimes. Ask which table your block is on before you budget the tax.
What FBR values it at — the number that decides your tax
Advance tax under §236K and §236C is computed on FBR’s notified value, not on what you pay. Almost nobody publishes these per area, so here they are, with the notification they come from.
| Category | Notified value |
|---|---|
| Rawalpindi table — DHA Phase-I | Rs 2,645/sq ft residential open plot · Rs 15,427/sq ft commercial |
| Rawalpindi table — DHA Phase-II | Rs 2,878/sq ft residential · Rs 17,677/sq ft commercial |
| Rawalpindi table — Phase-II Extension | Rs 778/sq ft residential · Rs 5,946/sq ft commercial |
| Rawalpindi table — DHA Phase-IV | Rs 1,322/sq ft residential |
| Rawalpindi table — DHA Phase-V | Rs 1,478/sq ft residential · Rs 2,165/sq ft commercial |
| Rawalpindi table — DHA Valley | Rs 466/sq ft residential · Rs 3,052/sq ft commercial |
| Islamabad table — DHA-I blocks | Rs 52,500–66,500/sq yd by block (A 56,000 · B 52,500 · C/D 53,900 · E 66,500 · F 65,240) |
| Islamabad table — DHA-II blocks | Rs 53,200–70,000/sq yd (A 57,400 · B/C/D 56,000 · E 63,000 · F 70,000 · G 53,200 · H 63,000) |
| Islamabad table — DHA-V blocks | Rs 42,000–53,200/sq yd (A 53,200 · B/C 46,200 · D 42,000 · F 43,400); apartments Rs 20,000/sq yd |
Rawalpindi-table figures are per square foot; multiply by nine to compare with the Islamabad per-square-yard rows. Rawalpindi values come from S.R.O. 877(I)/2026 (19 May 2026), the ICT block rows from S.R.O. 2392(I)/2025 (8 Dec 2025). Note also that DHA was excluded from both the February 2026 ICT increases and the April 2026 cuts — it moves on its own SRO track. Work your own number on the plot cost calculator.
Asking prices — what is listed, and what that is worth knowing
| Size | Asking range | Source, and what it is |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Kanal, Phase 1 | Rs 3.2 – 4.1 Cr | Dealer aggregates, 2 Sep 2026. A mature resale market — sector and frontage matter far more than any phase average. |
| 5 Marla, Phase 2 | around Rs 4 Cr (mixed sample) | Dealer aggregate, wide and uncertain — we would not budget from this number. |
| Phases 3, 4 and 5 | no reliable independent figure | No non-syndicated listing sample we would stand behind. We would rather say nothing than print a number. |
All asking, all secondary-market. Unlike a ballot scheme, DHA Phase 1 and 2 have no official price sheet to cite — anyone showing you a “DHA price list” for a developed phase is showing you their own estimate.
The honest part
- The split jurisdiction is itself the risk. A buyer needs to know which authority approved their specific block before assuming any particular protection applies.
- Non-balloted files, balloted files and construction-letter plots are legally different things in DHA Valley and Phase 7, and are routinely discussed as if they were the same product. They are not. See what a file actually is.
- Possession does not mean finished. Even after the January 2026 ceremonies, utility provision and road access in parts of the newer phases were reported as still being addressed.
- DHA is actively expanding into adjoining land. In June 2026 it physically fenced and took administrative control of several Bahria Town Phase 8 sectors as “DHA Sector IV” over a financial dispute. Whatever the merits, it shows a phase boundary is not necessarily final — see Bahria Town Rawalpindi.
- DHA Valley has a long-running development and litigation history and is the part of this brand where the gap between marketing and delivery has historically been widest. There is a specific, serious and widely-repeated claim about part of it that we have not been able to trace to a primary government document, so we are not repeating it here — but do your own diligence on Valley land specifically before buying it.
What to ask before you pay
- “Which side of the boundary is this block on, ICT or Rawalpindi?” Then match the answer to the right FBR table above.
- “Is this balloted, non-balloted, or a construction-letter plot?” In writing.
- “Show me the possession letter, or tell me what is outstanding.”
- “What are the DHA transfer charges for this size?” DHA transfers need biometric verification in person with witnesses — budget the trip, not just the fee.
Against Bahria Enclave, plainly
DHA and Bahria Enclave are not really competitors; they are different instruments. DHA’s developed phases are a mature, expensive, liquid resale market with military-authority governance and a delivery record. Bahria Enclave is cheaper per square yard, closer to the city’s western green edge, and privately governed — with the compliance history we publish in full on its own legality page rather than hide.
The honest version: if your budget clears DHA Phase 2 comfortably and you want the safest governance story in this market, DHA is a reasonable answer and I will tell you so. If your budget is 1 to 2 Crore and you want a plot you can build on inside two years, DHA’s developed phases are mostly out of range and the Enclave corridor is where that money actually works.
The rest of the city, read the same way
Same four things on every one: CDA’s register badge, the notices attached to it, FBR’s notified value, and dated asking prices.
- Naval Anchorage Islamabad
- Zaraj Housing Scheme
- B-17 Multi Gardens
- G-13, G-14 and G-15
- Gulberg Greens & Residencia
- Bani Gala
- Lehtrar Road & Simly Dam Road
- Chak Shahzad
- Bahria Town Rawalpindi
- Park View City Islamabad
- F-15 and E-16
- Faisal Town & Faisal Hills
- Top City-1
And the story that runs through all of them: CDA’s 2025–26 enforcement wave.
Plots available in every Bahria Enclave sector — and we buy as well as sell
From Sector A’s finished streets to Sector O’s entry tickets — 5 Marla to 4 Kanal, file to allotment to possession — we keep live options in all sixteen sectors, plus DHA Margalla Enclave ballots, files and resales. Buying, selling, or exchanging: one WhatsApp message gets you today’s real options, with verification built in before any token moves.
DHA, without the brochure
The question does not apply the way people mean it. The Defence Housing Authority Islamabad Act 2013 makes DHA its own approving authority inside its specified area, so DHA phases are legitimately absent from CDA's register of private housing schemes. What complicates it is that much of the same project sits in Rawalpindi District, Punjab, where planning oversight runs through RDA instead. Ask which side your specific block is on.
Because FBR itself does. The Rawalpindi valuation table prices DHA Phase-II residential open plot at Rs 2,878 per square foot — roughly Rs 25,900 a square yard — while the Islamabad table prices DHA-II Block-A at Rs 57,400 a square yard. More than double, for blocks sharing a phase name, because they sit under different notifications. Neither figure is wrong; they apply to different land.
A non-balloted file has no plot number attached yet — it is a place in a queue. A balloted file has been assigned a specific plot. A construction-letter plot is further along still. These are three different products at three different risk levels, and they are routinely discussed as if they were one. Get the stage in writing before you price it.
In June 2026 DHA physically fenced and took administrative control of several Bahria Town Phase 8 sectors, designating them DHA Sector IV, in connection with a financial dispute tied to DHA Phase 7. Bahria Town filed a court petition. No official policy for affected allottees had been published at the time of writing. If you hold a plot in those sectors, this is the single most important thing to track.
Comparing DHA against the Enclave corridor?
Send your budget and your horizon. You get a straight read on which one actually suits it — including when the answer is neither.