The country's real estate sector is now facing a serious blow, as all activities related with the sector have been suspended for a long period due to Covid-19 pandemic, industry people have said.
The deadlock in such a vital sector has already resulted in unemployment of a huge number of people, and created uncertainty over massive investment in the sector.
"All activities in the real estate sector including construction, promotion and sales are totally suspended now," said Managing Director (MD) of China Gardencity Developers Ltd K S M Mostafizur Rahman.
It is getting difficult for the realtors to maintain relation with their clients, as many of them are now unable to pay instalments, while the house builders cannot handover flats within stipulated timeframe.
He also said before the outbreak closure more than a month ago, his company was implementing six to seven projects, which employed hundreds of workers.
Sources said it will be difficult for many of the realtors as well as linkage industries concerned to continue paying salary to their staffs, if the situation prolongs.
The Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) First Vice President Liakat Ali Bhuiyan said the present situation is a bolt out of the blue for entrepreneurs as well as workers of the sector.
"The sector was getting revitalised in the recent time after a spell of recession between 2012 and 2018."
It is now uncertain where the situation will take the realtors, whose fortune is connected with over 200 linkage industries, like - steel rod, cement, ceramic ware and bricks etc, Mr Bhuiyan also said.
Even in the beginning of the year the sector was very much hopeful with increased demand of flats and plots among customers, he added.
The REHAB has formally requested the government to consider them for getting required fund from the stimulus package and other policy support.
In a recent letter to the finance minister, the trade-body said the sector is one of the worst-hit ones amid the virus epidemic. Some 3.5 million workers have become jobless, while another 0.1 million employees are on the verge of joblessness.
Sources said after passing the crisis period that started in 2012, the real estate sector started turning around in late 2018, thanks to low-cost loan facility for the government employees and healthy economic growth of the country.
Subsequently, the volume of money pumped into the sector also increased significantly.
According to the Bangladesh Bank data, the volume of banks' advances to the real estate sector was only Tk 408 billion in the fiscal year (FY) 2013-14. The figure gradually increased to Tk 438 billion, Tk 518 billion, Tk 603 billion and Tk 721 billion in FY '15, FY '16, FY '17 and FY '18 respectively.
The upward trend of investment continued further in the immediate past fiscal year (FY '19), when the amount of advances was around Tk 800 billion, the data showed.
Asked about future of the huge finance in the sector, Managing Director of the Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (BHBFC) Debasish Chakrabarty said the setback of the sector is temporary.
"The crisis is only for the time being, I believe, as the government is taking different measures to save both entrepreneurs and investors. The sector will be back on track when the situation normalises."
Housing sector should get a good amount of fund from the stimulus package devised by the government, he opined.
"Bangladesh's housing sector is a productive one. It has created employment for millions of people, and helped to boost other linkage industries. Workers in the sector also deserve support now."
He also suggested both the government and non-government financial institutions to reduce interest rates and extend loans in possible cases to help the sector overcome the present crisis.
The real estate and housing sector contributes 7.8 per cent or Tk 1.415 trillion of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), according to a 2018 survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
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