Asia-Pacific

Bangladesh's realtors see booking boom in housing show

(xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-11 19:24

DHAKA: The biggest annual show of the apex body of Bangladesh's nearly 600 realtors has clocked up 10.83 billion taka (US$ 154.72 million) in bookings, organizers said Monday.

The five-day housing show kicked off on January 5 in Bangladesh 's capital Dhaka, where a total of 268 real estate companies participated to showcase their products, which was also attended by a large number of financial institutions that offered housing loans.

Developers said the fair began with huge quarries from the customers who were showing interest mainly in mid and small-size apartments. The customers asked for flats ranging from 92.9 square meters to 111.5 square meters, and the downtown areas were on their priority lists, they said.

Speaking at a press conference, President of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB), Tanveerul Haque Probal, said the five-day fair had seen around 37,251 visitors.

He said, "We're more than satisfied by getting over 10.83 billion taka in bookings."

The developers said restoration of buyers' full confidence on real estate companies following the formulation of required laws to safeguard their interest and the provision of allowing black money under the national budget in June, 2009 for purchasing flats have contributed largely to the booking boom.

They expect good sales of ready flats and apartments this year after two years of slack business.

According to the REHAB, the turnover of Bangladesh' housing sector, which contributes 15 percent to the country's national GDP, was 30 billion taka in 2009, which was almost a half of the amount in 2008. (1 US dollor equals to 70 taka)