Dhaka at present is one of the fastest growing megacities in the world accommodating approximately 9% of

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Dhaka at present is one of the fastest growing megacities in the world accommodating approximately 9% of the national population. The population growth rate of the city is 3.26%. Average dwelling size is 4.9 persons per household. Dhaka is now growing with an unprecedented growth accommodating more than 600,000 people per year. The present demand for housing in the country is estimated to be between 6-8 lakhs units across all major cities. Estimates show that there is a need for 60 thousand apartments in Dhaka alone, along with 2 lakhs more units of replacement and project delays. With the limited land situation, high raised vertical homes seems like the only option people have now. Potential and Current Rivalry: The private sector contributors include formal private sector (Real Estate Development Companies) and informal private sector (Individual Initiatives).

As of now (2023), Real Estate & Housing Association of Bangladesh (REHAB has over 1500 registered members. Apart from REHAB members, some other non-registered realtors are also operating in the market. Entry in this sector requires good investment (min around 4 to 5 cr) but due to the easy loan availability, down and monthly payment (by customers) facilities and limited background audit by REHAB, this many developers could make entry to this sector. However, establishing a big brand and handling multiple projects require huge investment (hundreds of cr) in this sector making leaving the industry a rough call up on poor performance. Other than local investments, this sector has already attracted BDT 30 cr foreign investment in 2022 which is at the advantage of the big names due to their positive quality compliance records. Due to some recent accident cases, government now has increased the quality standard requirements and is to imply a strong monitoring of environment safe construction system which again is a good news for the ISO certified developers. Market size of real estate and renting business was around BDT 580,000 cr in 2023.Currently the industry has a growth rate of 17%. There has been a growth of 39% in the last five years in the supply of 1200 –1400 square foot apartments. Commercial banks pulled down interest rates (10.5% from 19%) of housing investment products gradually. Cost of living in Bangladesh has been increasing over the years and factors like rent, price of utilities (gas and electricity) playing important role behind this. This increasing cost of rent along with increasing income level may push a significant portion of dwellers to purchase own apartments. REHAB data shows (2022) that number of unsold flats has come down. Dhaka has 12,000 ready flats are to be sold. BTI, Bashundhara, Property, Concord, Shanta Properties, Navana, Assurance, Bay, South Breeze, Sheltech, ABC Real Estate, Rangs and Eastern Housing are some popular names among the developers with the higher and similar market share. The real estate generates most number of jobs after agriculture and garments industry. There is a tight monopolistic competition in this industry at different levels of developers even when supply is less than demand. Strong brand identities with design differentiations of these giants of this sector are roping in loyal customer cults for these brands even when apartments are considered as one of the highest emotionally and financially involved products here. (This paragraph also contains ECO and Legal macro data highlighted with italic formatting) Supply Chain Side: Apartment prices have recently been on the rise due to increase in price of construction materials.

The government proposed increasing duties on elevators from Tk 11% to 19%, on cable from 5% to 10%, and proposed 20% duty on aluminum foil which was previously duty-free among other items. As a result, experts are estimating an overall flat price increase of Tk 1,000 per sft. Raw materials such as cement, bricks, sand, iron, paint and the above mentioned are important factors to determine the price of a flats. Developers buy in bulk from them but again for the quality concern, they are also dependent on the few suppliers with solid reputation. Relationship status with the suppliers also plays a very important role I this value chain. Prices of Sand, Iron and Cement followed a more or less similar trend over the years while prices of Bricks, Paints and Timber somehow posted a downward price differences. Iron/steel price on the other hand is soaring in 2018. Concentric Cement and Steel industry are currently experiencing an upsurge in demand due to mass public infrastructure projects. Paint runs in overcapacity. Some 40 companies operate in the country. Among them, 10 to 12 companies contribute nearly 85 percent to the market. Other than raw material, limited land option is another crucial variable, especially inside Dhaka and other metropolitan cities. Expanding the range in the outer skirt has caused huge deforestation and wild life violation, some are which done illegally as well. (This paragraph also contains Legal macro data highlighted with italic formatting) The Demand Side: Apartment purchase has a high switching cost and hence why customers run extensive research and invest in brands they could trust with their significant parts of life time income. Online platforms are also keeping customers very updated with all required information for their decision making. Propositions such as updated apartment and extra service features, locations, fair price, trust, convenient after sales services, payment installment facilities and accessibility of info pushes the first or repeat purchase for the customers. However, some of the customers are also keen in building their own houses with contractors. The purchasing power of the Bangladeshi people has seen a drop in recent years from 8.3% to 6.5% due to covid and international financial crisis in 2022.In 2022 GDP per capita is USD 2687/year and average monthly salary (national) is around BDT 26,000 (minimum income requirement for home loan is 30,000/month) .20% of the population are middle income people, dual income family, unit family trend. Keeping in line, the cost of living also went sky rocketing. The rent for tenants are constantly on the rise. The increasing number of people seeking rent and major inflation (10%) are reasons for this sky high demand of apartments. There are some other socio-economic reasons behind the strong demand for the housing market besides the demand-supply interaction.

The most important one is the change in family structure from joint to nuclear families and the emotional satisfaction of owning one home. In addition, security and extra services such as community hall, pool and so on offered in apartments are usually better than those of other housing types. People from abroad are also investing in buying apartments here. 77.78% of the investment from foreign remittance is being used for reconstruction purposes of flats or buildings in their own country. People are migrating from rural to urban areas for better education and lifestyle. However, 57% of middle-income people cannot afford to have a house in Dhaka. They are a major portion of the population and there is a big gap between their income and the price of flats. On top, Taxes for property purchase accounts for more than 14% and as per the 2022 budget, Flats upto 1100sqft, which had 1.5 per cent VAT, will now come under the purview of 2 per cent VAT. However, things are a bit brighter for those with higher income and seeking out flats between 1101sqft to 1600sqft, as the VAT on such apartments have been brought down to a flat 2 per cent, what was previously 2.5 per cent.(This paragraph also contains ECO,SOC and Legal macro data highlighted with italic formatting) Building Technology and Ideas Ltd. (bti) is a pioneer real estate company in Bangladesh established in 1984. It has been in the real estate business for over 3 decades and all these years of experience have established bti as a brand name in this sector. bti is one of the founder members of REHAB and the first real estate company in Bangladesh to be awarded with the internationally recognized ISO 9001-2008certification for quality in Service, Design and Construction of Buildings. So far it has handed over 9000 apartments in the market and in return took home a glorifying learning curve. The game changer ‘joint venture with the land owner’ approach was founded and implemented by this trend setter in Bangladesh. Differentiation in design and comfortable smart living are other PODs of bti. This has brought them a huge and sustainable market share.

Continuing that market leader legacy, bti has addressed all the current NWDs of people and is offering affordable luxury to those who wish to live a quiet and harmonious life, yet with all modern comfort. Other than real-estate both in housing and commercial space sector, they also have interior, property renting, building material supplies (steel), bti energy (generator and renewable energy) and corporate services. Since 2016 bti has been taking branding to another level by introducing their new interactive website and social media marketing with more customer friendly pages and introduced marketing automation, architect video on projects, detailed e-brochures to keep ourselves in the forefront Comparative Situation: Despite all these solid advantages, like any other brands, bti is also facing a lot of competition from direct rivals on some of their competitive disadvantages. Under corporate marketing division bti has the singed the MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with 17 companies still now which is relatively low comparing to Sheltech and Shanta. Since foreign remittance is a major revenue stream for them, bti needs to spread its wings in the other cities such as Khulna,Rajshahi and Sylhet where they have limited footprints relative to their competitors such as Green Bangla, Doreen, Next plan, Ark and Akhter Developers. Bti is aware that these names are either very regional or very new in the market and customers prefer brands with reputation while investing in any real-estate. Bti also needs attention in their high end and green projects where Shanta and Bay Properties are ruling the market.

The latter two brands are also planning to set long run partnership with some leading interior and furniture brands such as ISHO and Hatil for their up market apartments. News are floating that Shanta Properties might work directly work with Google for Shanta Smart Homes since studio and smart homes are now projected to be on high demand. One of the reasons of bti’s customer churn rates among their elite clients could be for the absence of high-end features. However, Shanta and Bay Properties only known to build very expensive apartments that customers other than Elites might find a rip off. Bti also has an insignificant presence in commercial projects such as shopping malls and office spaces where Sheltech and Concord run the show. Concord has recently recognized with ESSAB Safety Excellence Award. Some of the disadvantages of these names would be a drop in customer satisfaction rate of Concord and slow development process of Sheltech. Introducing a separate wing for after-sales services might also earn bti much appreciation from their prospects.

Make a Porter's 6 Industry Analysis: Name each force (such as BP of the Buyers/Suppliers/Middlemen/Threat of new Entrance/Rivalry Brand/ Rivalry Substitute products) and will run the listed analysis based on the information provided in the case.