A five-day housing and real estate fair kicked off in the capital on Tuesday with the aim to foster communication between the buyers and the realtors.
A total of 230 stalls including real estate companies, land developers, banks, financial institutions and building material manufacturing companies are participating in the fair with various lucrative offers.
The Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (Rehab) has organized the winter edition of the event at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Dhaka.
Housing and Public Works Minister SM Rezaul Karim inaugurated the fair. Rehab President Alamgir Shamsul Alamin (Kajal) was present on the occasion.
Liaquat Ali Bhuiyan, first vice-president of Rehab, also attended the opening ceremony.
Housing and Public Works Minister Rezaul Karim asked realtors to abide by the sector-specific laws, rules and regulations while running their businesses.
He also said that the realtors should construct buildings following building code and keeping in mind the environmental impact.
“Housing projects at Keraniganj, Uttara, and Purbachal as well as other public projects are being developed by the foreign companies. In these cases, local firms should be given priority,” he said.
At the housing and real estate fair, 14 non-bank financial institutions and banks are also participating in the fair with the aim to provide loans to clients for buying flats, plots, and commercial spaces that will lessen the burden of cash payment.
The interest rate on such loans is set at 9.99% to 12%, depending on the type of customer, along with a loan processing fee of 0.50 to 1%. A maximum of 70% of the property or apartment value can be borrowed.
While talking to Dhaka Tribune, Md Romisul Islam, relationship manager at the LankaBangla Finance, said that the company considered the fair as an opportunity for offering home loans to their customers to materialize their dreams of becoming home owners.
Md Imran Hossain, retail business associate at the IFIC Bank, told Dhaka Tribune that a good number of visitors already showed keen interest to buy flats on credit and wanted to know how they could get the loans.
“We have made a number of commitments to provide credit facilities for buying flats or commercial spaces,” he said.
The City Bank, Brac Bank, National Finance, IDLC Finance, IPDC Finance, and Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation are offering home loan facilities at the fair.
General Manager (Marketing) of Eastern Housing Limited Mohammad Farhaduzzaman informed Dhaka Tribune that this year visitors at the fair were more active and more focused on buying land and flats.
“Besides, increased amount of home loans to government officials increased their purchasing power to buy flats,” he added.
According to a government decision, a government official can avail home loan to the tune of Tk75 lakh.
Senior Manager at the Mohammadi Developers Ltd ASM Shahnawaz said that the buyers’ confidence was at its peak owing to political stability, economic growth of the country, and the government’s plan to reduce registration fees.
Atikul Islam Khan and his wife from Mirpur was at the fair to book an apartment somewhere in the capital.
“We are looking for an attractive flat and bank loan facilities at the fair,” said Atikul Islam.
The fair, which will be closing on December 28, will remain open from 10:00am to 09:00pm every day. The entry fee is set at Tk50 for a single entry and Tk100 for a maximum of five visits.
