gold digger alert...
It is not common in pakistan at all. haq meher is usually cash, paid after nikkah, before consummation. People do gift houses or plots etc (girls side does it as well as the guys side), but that is done as a gift, not as a security measure.
asking for house as a security deposit before marriage is fishy behaviour....not common in pakistan. as for meher, you pay whatever is decided mutually...noone can force you. If the girls demand is too high for you, then it means they dont trust you enough. and if your offer is too low, that means youre trying to find a cheap way out. Just find common ground.....but in any case, a house is a big deal, and no, in pakistan, it is not common.
See, the situation is somewhat different in this case...
The girl's elder sister got married a year and half ago. She did not request anything for "security," and rather transferred her assets to her husband. She blindly trusted her husband. It later turned out he was already married to someone else without her knowledge. He made her live in Pakistan, took her passport, and went overseas, so she could no longer travel, and he refused to live with her. He also refused to give a divorce. Because of this mistake in judgement previously, the younger sister who I plan on getting married to says that for her own security, and her lack of faith in men in general, despite her trusting me, she finds it necessary to have some backup, unlike her sister who is left with nothing.
This is why I sympathize with her and just wanted to make sure this is normal before approaching my parents. If not normal, is it "acceptable" as a form of mahar, and is it completely extra-ordinary...