Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop a scale for measuring housing quality in the context of Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach The inductive and deductive approaches for item generation have been combined, and items have been purified using multistage expert review. Data was collected from a sizeable purposive sample of 445 respondents, and exploratory and confirmatory factor approaches used for assessing psychometric properties of the scale. Findings The result is a 21-item scale covering five dimensions, namely, Design and Construction Quality, Neighborhood Quality, Adequacy of Space, Quality of Institutional Services and Proximity of Basic Amenities. Originality/value This study contributes to housing quality literature by deepening our understanding of the concept of housing quality in the context of Pakistan, the world’s fifth most populous country. The findings of the study have important implications for both theory and practice.