Shah Alam Nur :
The Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) has taken a set of initiatives such as holding of fairs as well as promotional advertisements in both print and electronic media abroad to attract Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs).
Besides, a number of local companies have already opened their offices in different countries or appointed representatives in recent times to attract expatriate buyers, which can help improve the present sluggish housing business, inside sources said.
“So far, our response is good. Many companies are now reaching out to foreign countries to increase sales,” Liakat Ali Bhuiyan, Vice President of REHAB told The New Nation on Sunday. He said the real estate business among local companies has the potential to increase as more than 10 million Bangladeshis have been living abroad.
If the local real estate companies could attract some of them, it might become as huge business for the sector, Bhuiyan said.
NRBs have already started buying flats or plots at home after efforts by realtors to boost sluggish sales, he said.
According to the REHAB, a number of local companies, including Asian City, Divine Group, Amin Mohammad Group, Rupayan Group, Building Technology and Ideas ltd. (BTI) went abroad for marketing and grabbing NRB buyers.
An official of the organisation said, to attract overseas customers, they have organised fairs abroad several times, including the US, UK, Dubai, Italy, Australia, Canada and other countries. Insiders further said, many companies are promoting projects abroad targeting overseas Bangladeshi community, who are becoming a lucrative market.
They said in recent times, the REHAB has organised a Winter Fair in the Dhaka city, but customers’ response was poor. Most of companies have made different lucrative offers, including a good discount, but could not attract desired buyers.
Former President of REHAB Tanvirul Haque Probal said. “Our recent experiences of arranging different fairs in foreign countries have proved positive as NRB customers buying plots and flats on such occasions.”
Currently, the domestic business experience is not good, so the realtors have been exploring alternative way of targeting expatriate customers living across the world, he said.
A REHAB data showed, apartment and plot sales registered a 60 per cent drop in 2015 from the previous year.
The number of new projects undertaken by developers declined by around 75 per cent in 2015 compared to the previous year, it said.
The data further showed a total of 12,000 flats worth around Tk 150 billion remained unsold over the last one year mainly due to the political turmoil and high lending rates during the period. “The year 2015 has been the worst for the real estate sector,” said Toufiq M Seraj, Managing Director of Sheltech (Pvt) Ltd. He said Sheltech, which has around 40 ongoing projects, usually takes 12-15 projects a year, he said. “The number was only 3 in current year.”
The company’s sales also declined by more than 30 per cent in last 11 months, he added.
