Sale of landed property in and around the capital continues to maintain sluggish trend as people are yet to regain enough confidence in investing money in the sector even after the improvement in the country's political situation.
Some other factors including higher registration costs are also responsible for the situation, people involved in land business and registration process said.
However, the government revenue earnings on account of registrations of landed property and other fees have been registering a declining trend over the last couple of years, officials said.
They, however, predicted an improvement in the overall land business in the months ahead provided the existing political atmosphere persists.
Around 39 per cent fall in revenue earnings in respect of land sale was recorded during the last six months (July-December) over that of the first six months of 2013.
According to the land registry office in Dhaka, more than Tk 4.28 billion by way of registration charges, fees for certified copies of registered deeds, stamp fees and pay orders have been realised during July-December period against Tk 6.97 billion in January-June period of 2013.
The data also showed a downward trend in the number of registered deeds during the period as a total of 88,659 deeds were registered in the last six months of the just concluded calendar year against the number of 109019, which were recorded in the previous six months.
Talking to the FE, Deputy Registrar of Dhaka District Abdul Kaium confirmed the continuing downward trend in land sales, saying that the poor scenario in the land business shows that people are yet to regain confidence to invest in the sector.
"But we've nothing to do in this connection," he said.
Seeking anonymity, a senior official at the Directorate of Registration said the recent fall in the prices of land prompted many of the sellers to change their minds. "Land prices recently fell by 15 to 20 per cent. So, many sellers have adopted a wait-and-see policy to get much higher prices in the future," he said.
He termed financial crisis another reason behind less revenue collection and said many people, especially the expatriate Bangladeshis, have shown reluctance in making any investment because of the restive political situation. "But things are improving and we hope people will regain their confidence in the coming months," he added.
He said the government, however, is unlikely to reach the revenue target of Tk 50.0 billion as registration and related fees and charges in the ongoing FY 2013-2014, even if the trend continues further.
"Yes, higher registration fee is one of the main reasons that left a number of flats or apartments unregistered in the capital and elsewhere. But we've nothing to do in this regard," he said.
An official at Uttara Registry Office said the poor scenario of land sales have been continuing for the last couple of years as a total of 14,906 deeds were recorded in the fiscal year 2012-2013 against 17,173 a year ago.
The government annually earns Tk 50 billion from 13 areas relating to registration of transfer deeds including fees, certified copies of the documents, stamp fees, tax at source, renewal fees, land hand-over fees and other kinds of charges.
Land and apartment buyers normally pay a minimum of 8.0 and a maximum of 12.50 per cent of the land prices, to the government exchequer, depending on the location of the property.
"We've repeatedly been knocking our buyers to get their flats registered. But they pay no heed to our reminders because of the high registration fees (11.50 per cent)," General Secretary of Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) Md. Wahiduzzaman, said.
He said they have been requesting the government repeatedly for lowering fees for registration of transfer deeds in case of apartments.
The REHAB general secretary said the government earnings from the sector would certainly increase to a satisfactory level if the rate is fixed at a maximum of 6.50 per cent of costs of the property.
Currently, apartment buyers pay 11.50 per cent including gain tax at 3.0 per cent, stamp duty at 3.0 per cent, registration fee at 4.0 per cent and value added tax (VAT) at 1.50 per cent.
The registration cost is 7.5 per cent in Pakistan, 7.0 per cent in India, 5.0 per cent in Sri Lanka and 4.5 per cent in Nepal, according to the REHAB.
Meanwhile, many potential buyers of land and apartments are not in a position to show the fund, matching the deed value, because of a large amount of money remaining still undisclosed for a variety of factors, sources said.
Such buyers fear about getting into tax-related troubles later on, if their wealth statements, submitted alongwith annual tax returns, do not provide reasonable grounds for the sources of funds for purchase of land or apartments, sources added.
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