Housing finance in Pakistan has historically been provided by the House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC), a government entity originally established in 1952 to provide housing finance to the public. Banks have not historically been major providers of housing finance. From 1952 to 1972, HBFC made loans only to (prospective) home owners for construction of homes in urban areas. During this period HBFC’s origination activities were quite modest, averaging PRs 18 million (US$300,000) annually.