Building boom catches Ctg
Tuesday, 3 May 2011
Jasim Uddin Haroon
Realtors have gone viral in Chittagong, changing the landscape of the hill-dotted port city in recent months and pushing the land price to an astounding Tk 30 million per decimal in some posh hotspots. City authorities said two years ago only a handful of real estate companies operated in the city of five million people. Now the number has crossed 250, competing for every inch in the city's old and new residential blocks. A new generation of the city's homegrown entrepreneurs, booming trade through the country's main sea-port and return of thousands of rich expatriates from the Middle East spurred the real estate boom. "If you visit Khulshi, Nasirabad, Nizam Road, Mehdibagh, Agrabad or even the old quarters in Chawkbazaar and Bakolia, everyday a new real estate project is being launched here," said Abdul Kauiam Chowdhury, a leading realtor. "Even in 2008, we moaned lack of new flats in Chittagong and how we would accommodate the city's ever expanding middle class," said Chowdhury, also the head of the Chittagong chapter of Rehab, an association of realtors. "But this year alone at least 700 apartment projects have been launched. It happened so sudden and in such a dramatic fashion that we are now facing an acute crisis of construction workers while land-price is jumping every day," he said. Chowdhury said his own company Airbell launched seven projects this year but lost dozens of projects to Chittagong-based rookie realtors and the heavyweights from Dhaka, which have swarmed the city since last year. Ainul Hoque, managing director of Equity, one of the oldest realtors in the port city, said real estate business was looked down upon by Chittagong's elite entrepreneurs, whose main interest were trading, commodities and manufacturing. But a spike in demand for quality flats since 2009 and a good profit margin saw the established players rushing in to launch their own real estate companies, Ainul said. Mostafa Hakim group, leading commodity importer Abul Bashar Chowdhury, S Alam Group, Ratanpur Steel and Finlay have launched multiple real estate projects. City giant PHP also announced its arrival earlier this year. Ainul, whose company has sold 700 flats and are building another 500, added Dhaka's leading realtors like Rangs, Concord, BTI, Rupayan and Navana have joined the race, sparking a competition never seen before. "Their entry has transformed the real estate business in Chittagong for good. Some of them even bought thousands of acres of land in the city suburbs such as Hathazari, Patiya and Raozan," he said. Realtors said their big concern is sky-rocketing prices of land, as an unhealthy competition led the prices to double in the last 15 months. Each decimal land at OR Nizam Road now cost more than Tk 30 million, followed by Agrabad between Tk 15 and Tk20 million. Prices of land in suburbs have also jumped 70-80 per cent this year due to the competition. Prices of ready flats hit a record high of Tk 10,000 per square feet at Khulshi and at GEC crossing. Prices of flats in other areas range from Tk3500 to Tk7000 per square feet, depending on the quality of flats and access roads. Experts warned that the market may face a glut and a crash, as many companies are launching projects without assessing the actual demand. They said many are buying flats just for speculation as the return in real estate outstrips that of stocks and fixed investment.
Realtors have gone viral in Chittagong, changing the landscape of the hill-dotted port city in recent months and pushing the land price to an astounding Tk 30 million per decimal in some posh hotspots. City authorities said two years ago only a handful of real estate companies operated in the city of five million people. Now the number has crossed 250, competing for every inch in the city's old and new residential blocks. A new generation of the city's homegrown entrepreneurs, booming trade through the country's main sea-port and return of thousands of rich expatriates from the Middle East spurred the real estate boom. "If you visit Khulshi, Nasirabad, Nizam Road, Mehdibagh, Agrabad or even the old quarters in Chawkbazaar and Bakolia, everyday a new real estate project is being launched here," said Abdul Kauiam Chowdhury, a leading realtor. "Even in 2008, we moaned lack of new flats in Chittagong and how we would accommodate the city's ever expanding middle class," said Chowdhury, also the head of the Chittagong chapter of Rehab, an association of realtors. "But this year alone at least 700 apartment projects have been launched. It happened so sudden and in such a dramatic fashion that we are now facing an acute crisis of construction workers while land-price is jumping every day," he said. Chowdhury said his own company Airbell launched seven projects this year but lost dozens of projects to Chittagong-based rookie realtors and the heavyweights from Dhaka, which have swarmed the city since last year. Ainul Hoque, managing director of Equity, one of the oldest realtors in the port city, said real estate business was looked down upon by Chittagong's elite entrepreneurs, whose main interest were trading, commodities and manufacturing. But a spike in demand for quality flats since 2009 and a good profit margin saw the established players rushing in to launch their own real estate companies, Ainul said. Mostafa Hakim group, leading commodity importer Abul Bashar Chowdhury, S Alam Group, Ratanpur Steel and Finlay have launched multiple real estate projects. City giant PHP also announced its arrival earlier this year. Ainul, whose company has sold 700 flats and are building another 500, added Dhaka's leading realtors like Rangs, Concord, BTI, Rupayan and Navana have joined the race, sparking a competition never seen before. "Their entry has transformed the real estate business in Chittagong for good. Some of them even bought thousands of acres of land in the city suburbs such as Hathazari, Patiya and Raozan," he said. Realtors said their big concern is sky-rocketing prices of land, as an unhealthy competition led the prices to double in the last 15 months. Each decimal land at OR Nizam Road now cost more than Tk 30 million, followed by Agrabad between Tk 15 and Tk20 million. Prices of land in suburbs have also jumped 70-80 per cent this year due to the competition. Prices of ready flats hit a record high of Tk 10,000 per square feet at Khulshi and at GEC crossing. Prices of flats in other areas range from Tk3500 to Tk7000 per square feet, depending on the quality of flats and access roads. Experts warned that the market may face a glut and a crash, as many companies are launching projects without assessing the actual demand. They said many are buying flats just for speculation as the return in real estate outstrips that of stocks and fixed investment.