Price Shift in Vale

A century of soaring land values forces Kashmiris to rethink what security and investment mean today.

- Irshad Mushtaq

Kashmir’s real estate story reads like an economic thriller. In the early 1930s, land along Srinagar’s main roads sold for about twenty rupees a kanal. Families bought plots to build homes, plant orchards, or simply hold for the future. At the time, even salaried officials could afford several kanals with a few months of pay.