Desk Report:
The Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB) has claimed that the country’s housing sector is in dire straits due to rising construction costs, high-interest bank loans, increased tax burden, and various complications of the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) and new building regulations. The organization has called for policy and financial support from the government to sustain the sector.
The leaders of the organization raised these demands at a high-level exchange of views between RAJUK and REHAB at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital on Wednesday (July 8, 2026).
At the meeting, REHAB President Dr. Ali Afzal said that the contribution of housing and related industries to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) is about 15 percent. This sector directly and indirectly employs about 5 million people and more than 265 allied industries are being operated. However, in the current situation, flat sales have fallen by about 62 percent, putting the entire industry under great pressure.
He said that construction costs have increased by 43 to 44 percent due to the global economic situation, rising prices of construction materials and tax increases in the new budget. At the same time, the interest rate on bank loans has reached 17 to 18 percent, making it difficult to implement new projects and run existing businesses.
To deal with the situation, REHAB demanded the introduction of low-interest long-term home loans for the housing sector, the formation of a refinancing fund of Tk 10,000 crore, and special support in tax policy. In addition, emphasis was placed on decentralized urbanization by providing special incentives for planned housing development at the district and upazila levels.
In the meeting, REHAB also called for the revision of DAP-2025 and the revision of some sections of the Dhaka Metropolitan Building Regulations-2025. According to the organization, there are ambiguities in various provisions related to FAR, setback, determination of unit number in small plots, STP, green building, TOD, TDR, parking, mixed use and planning approval, which may create complications in implementation. In addition, it was demanded to quickly bring the share-based housing business operating outside the registration and tax framework under the legal and regulatory framework.
RAJUK Chairman Engineer Md. Riazul Islam said at the meeting that it is not the intention of RAJUK to harass developers; rather, the organization’s main goal is to build a safe, orderly and planned city. He said that initiatives have been taken to reduce the time frame for approval of building designs to 30 working days. At the same time, he also mentioned that all types of RAJUK services will be brought under the full digital system step by step.
