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The realtors passed a roller-coaster year with some gains and losses amid the pandemic that battered the sector in the middle of the year while the first and last quarter saw a remarkable turnaround.
Beset by the Covid-induced shutdown and high material cost, small players went through a sticky patch unlike the big shots that had ready products as well as handy essential materials to go for construction, according to the sector people.
Talking to The Business Post, Mahzabin Chowdhury, head of Marketing at Bproperty, said: “Despite some challenges, the real estate sector showed good signs of recovery in 2021 compared to 2020.”
“According to our analysis, business was good at the beginning of 2021. It slowed down towards the middle of the year. In the second half, it bounced back and is on right track as of today.”
The rising construction cost which is likely to shoot up apartment price is a concern, but ready and second-hand flats can be a good alternative in such cases, suggested Mahzabin.
A challenging year for small realtors
The year of 2021 posed challenges to small players since they did not have ready products to make sale in accordance with the demand.
Assistant Manager (Sales) of Rupayan Housing Estate Limited Md Azharul Islam said they received a good number of orders during the pandemic as registration fee and loan interests were reduced during the period. On the other hand, the government employees got loan facility up to 70 per cent.
“We survived the pandemic as we could sell ready products like commercial, duplex and condominiums, but small companies faced challenges,” he observed.
The current price of raw materials for construction has created another challenge for all.
Priyanka Group Manager (HR and Admin) Mohammad Ziaul Haque said their business was shut during the intermittent lockdown as clients could not go to field to purchase plot.
“After lockdown was lifted, recovery started. I hope the pre-Covid situation will come by June 2022,” he added.
Legalising undisclosed money helps revive real estate sector
Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) vice-president Kamal Mahmud said, “We got enough investment in the sector in the current fiscal, thanks to the government positive initiative. We received around Tk 20,000-crore investment in 2021.”
“Earlier, we saw undisclosed money fly out of the country. But this year, we have been able to sell housing and commercial spaces, i.e. ready products/ apartments amid the Covid-19 too.”
According to the provisional data of the NBR, an undisclosed wealth worth around Tk 112 crore had been legalised between July and November under a special scheme offered in the national budget for Fiscal Year 2021-22.
Of them, Tk 90 crore was legalised in the form of untaxed cash, bank deposits, savings certificates and other financial instruments.
The rest of Tk 22-crore undeclared money was whitened in the real estate sector and through investment in the stock market during the period.
According to REHAB, currently the organisation has a total of 914 members, with around 40 lakh people engaged in the sector that has 269 linkage industries. The sector is contributing 15 per cent to GDP.
Raw material price hike another challenge
Managing Director of Skiros Builders Ltd Kamal Mahmud said they were forced to stop many projects due to rise in raw material cost.
“If there is a level-playing field in terms of product price, the market will be better for all, and we can fix our project cost too,” he said, adding that when the pandemic hit the country, “we were frustrated, and later, we were happy as business started to recover,” thanks to the government policy support.
The businessman urged the government to form a ‘monitoring cell’ so traders can’t increase the prices of raw materials like rod, cement and stone as per their own sweet will.
“We want traders follow specific guideline to do business. If that is done, it will help builders fix their construction budget. If we can purchase raw materials at low rate, we can sell apartments at a reasonable price either,” Kamal argued.
The REHAB leader said the real estate sector is flouring in full swing as it does in developed countries.
“We are now building apartments of international standard. The government provided huge incentives during the pandemic and many realtors got incentives as per their capacity,” Kamal told The Business Post.
However, the 2021 was a mix of pros and cons for all, but was better than the previous year, and a better tomorrow is likely in the offing in 2022, hoped the business leader.
