The real estate and housing sector contributes 7.8 per cent or Tk 1.415 trillion of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), according to a survey of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics(BBS).
The country's first comprehensive survey on real estate and housing also showed over 53 per cent of households still have 'kutcha' houses, revealing a recent socioeconomic status of the major Bangladeshi families.
The study titled "Survey on Occupied Residential Houses and Real Estate Services 2018," was published on Monday at a book opening ceremony held at the BBS auditorium, chaired by its director general Dr Krishna Gayen.
The BBS took into account residential and non-residential housing services, and real estate establishment to measure the sector.
Project director of the survey Tufail Ahmed presented key findings of the survey of 2016-17 financial year (FY'17), which was done using FY'16 as the base year.
The survey said the country 's 32.47 million households are owner-occupied when 4.62 million are rented, which means 85 per cent families have their own houses while 12.21 per cent do not have any.
Of the houses, 53 per cent are kutcha, 31.33 per cent semi pucca, 10 percent pucca (less than five storied) and 4.9 per cent multistoried (five storied or above), it added.
Speaking at the event, Tufail Ahmed, also deputy director of national accounting wing (NAW) of BBS, said the latest study will help the policy makers plan appropriately regarding the real estate and housing sector of the country.
Statistics and information secretary Saurendra Nath Chakrabarty, additional secretary Mahmuda Khatun, additional secretary Bikash Kisore Das, director of NAW Ziauddin Ahmed, among others, spoke there.
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