Bangladesh Real Estate and Housing Industry Scenario

A brilliant article on Bangladesh Real Estate and Housing Industry present scenario written by Eng. Arshi Haider, Managing Director of BTI has been published in the Daily Star on Wednesday, April 30, 2007. We are publishing part of it for our readers and link for the whole article to read:


Woes of the housing industry
Arshi Haider

IT is often said that the housing industry is a fair barometer of the country's economy. Invariably, a successful and thriving economy is represented by a booming real-estate market. A few good examples are Hong Kong and Singapore in the recent past, and India, China, Dubai at present.

This "barometer" has also performed pretty accurately in Bangladesh, or, more specifically, in Dhaka. For certain periods of time over the last ten years, our economy has been prospering, and during that time the housing industry has witnessed a boom. But if one is to asses the present health of our economy, based on the condition of the housing industry, then it can surely be termed "poor."

In the last five years, the members of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (Rehab) constructed the following numbers of apartment units in Dhaka: 2003 - 4465 units, 2004 - 5075 units, 2005 - 5785 units, 2006 - 6433 units, and 2007 - 5800 units.

As we can see, the rising trend of growth was suddenly jolted in 2007. One quarter of the way into 2008, from the unofficial information available, the situation has deteriorated further.

So why is this important sector of our economy ailing? It directly employs about 1 million people, contributes about 15% to the country's GDP, and has provided a lucrative and respectable employment to the country's engineers and architects, which hitherto was limited to either poorly paid government jobs or migration to the Middle East.

Furthermore, the housing industry has been responsible for the setting up of the numerous factories -- cement, sanitary ware, ceramic tile, UPVC pipe, brick, electric cable, and aluminium section -- and has single-handedly revived the fortune of the doomed M.S. rod industry.

The simple answer to the above question is the total apathy of the successive governments towards this sector. Instead of nurturing of the housing industry with encouraging polices and incentives, it has been repeatedly held back by regressive polices.

For reading the full article please click: Woes of the housing industry

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