Realtors Wednesday urged political parties to alter the language of protest to give them breathing space as it sustained a loss of Tk 7.92 billion over the last 22 days of non-stop blockade.
They feared the political unrest would weaken their ability to repay bank loans and delay timely completion of projects and handover, thus pushing up prices of flats.
"We've already incurred a loss of about Tk 7.92 billion, which will rise further if the present violent political programmes continues…In this situation, we can't support the ongoing violence," said Liakat Ali Bhuiyan, vice-president of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB).
He called upon parties to shun violence to bring peace in the country and change their expression of political protest.
Mr Ali was addressing a press conference on the current political situation at the National Press Club in the city.
He said the flat sale, price collection and financial transaction is at the lowest level at present due to the strike and blockade. He added many buyers cannot pay their installments and have fallen into an uncertain situation with their bank loans at a high interest.
Fate of a significant number of labourers and employees involved with the sector has become uncertain as the developers cannot take up new projects, he said.
He said that most of the companies are keeping construction work on hold, but workers' wages have to be paid regardless of work being done or not.
He calculated the average daily overhead cost of a real estate company is around Tk 0.3 million, meaning the blockade is causing losses of Tk 360 million a day to the 1,200 REHAB members.
Realtors said such higher overhead costs will obviously increase the price of apartments, which are already experiencing a slump in sales in the last couple of years.
The slump can mainly be attributed to buyers' lack of access to low-cost home loans and abnormal rise in apartment prices between 2011 and 2012, industry people said.
"In December 2014, REHAB organised the Winter Fair where a large number of buyers showed their interest. But that has not been successful because of inadequate loans," said Mr Ali.
Referring to the Bangladesh Bank's initiative to provide loan to the lower and middle income people to buy low-cost housing at 9.0 per cent interest rate, he said the two funds involving Tk 7.50 billion haave been halted. But recently the housing minister has agreed to provide the loan again, he added.
Mr Ali demanded banks write off the interest of the realtors who have taken loans and reschedule their loans for another two years as there is hardly any customer for their projects.
He also urged the central bank to reintroduce refinancing at a single digit interest rate for low and middle income people.
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