Sheltech (Pvt) Ltd, a real estate company, begins a 15-day promotional housing fair at its office in Dhaka today, eyeing higher apartment sales.
The company plans to sell more than 300 apartments ranging from 805-3140 square feet (sq ft) worth around Tk 500 crore during the fair.
Ten new projects consisting of 204 apartments located in Mirpur, Maghbazar, Baridhara, Uttara, Kamalapur and Banani, along with 100 flats from its ongoing projects in Dhaka, will be presented at the fair styled Autumn Fair 2012.
The realtor will offer up to 15 percent discount on bookings for each flat or land, along with a wide range of gifts such as LCD televisions, revealed the company’s managing director (MD) Toufiq M Seraj at a press conference yesterday.
“We have designed our products targeting the middle- and upper middle-income bracket.”
Apartments at the Baridhara will cost Tk 36,000 per sq ft, while at Uttara it will cost Tk 6,500 per sq ft, said Seraj, adding that the average cost will be Tk 8000 – Tk 10,000 per square foot at the other areas.
It means each flat with a size of 2,045 sq ft at Baridhara will cost around Tk 7.37 crore, and around Tk 52.32 lakh for an apartment size of 805 sq ft at Uttara.
He said Sheltech will hand over the projects within 2-3.5 years of the signing of the deal.
Seraj said Sheltech saw sales rebound from July of this year, and he expects the trend to continue into next year.
The real-estate sector now contributes up to 12-14 percent to the country’s GDP, employing around one lakh skilled people and 35 lakh workforce in the linkage industries, according to Seraj.
The Sheltech MD said his company will mobilize the 25 projects it has in the pipeline — to build 400 apartments at a total cost of Tk 500 crore — by the end of this year.
Around 4,000 apartments have so far been handed over to customers since the company’s inception in 1988, he added.
Seraj said the exorbitant land and construction material prices, the higher interest rates and lack of new gas connection, account for the present high rates for flats.
He said one katha land (720 sq ft) at Gulshan cost Tk 2.5 crore in 2010; now, a katha sells at Tk 7 crore, and in case of Gulshan Avenue, it is as high as Tk 10 crore.
The realtors now have to pay 20-22 percent interest, which was single digit even a few years ago, said Seraj.
Adding to the realtors’ woes is the freeze on new gas connections since July 21, 2009 to commercial consumers and July 13, 2010 to domestic users, due to gas shortage.
The fair will remain open from 9 am to 7pm every day and is free of any entry fee.
-With The Daily Star input
