People prefer smaller, affordable houses for rental during pandemic

During Covid-19 pandemic, people have been opting for smaller and affordable houses for rent in Dhaka.

Property solutions provider Bproperty has come out with a trend analysis which shows the current situation for renting properties in Dhaka, according to a press release.

The research data was collected via the number of users, listings added and queries made at bproperty.com over the past six months, starting from January 2020 to June 2020.

The first quarter of 2020 had been great for rental properties with rental listing growth increasing by about 20 per cent from the last quarter of 2019. However, the rate of rental property listing started to dip during the end of March when the lockdown was first officially announced.

This was partly because the situation regarding coronavirus was new for everyone and most people were not sure what to expect next and thus regular activities had slowed down. The demand for rental properties began to increase again starting in May but it was during June when Bproperty website traffic received a lot of hits on rental properties.

As per the data, many people are looking to rent at the moment and the overall queries for rent is higher than the early part of the year.

Since March, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the country, most people have been looking for two-bedroom apartments with the most preferred size being houses that are between 1,000 square feet and 1,500 square feet. According to the data, the average rent people are mostly searching for is between TK 10,000 and Tk. 20,000.

Bproperty’s analysis has also revealed that in the year 2020, some of the areas with the lowest average rent include Shyampur (Tk 8,086), Khilkhet (Tk 11,386), Maniknagar (Tk 12,427), Kafrul (Tk 14,864), Dakshin Khan (Tk 15,233), Agargaon (TK 15,829), Hazaribag (Tk 15,918).

Despite the growing demand for these areas, according to Bproperty, Uttara, Bashundhara R/A and Mohammadpur still remain the most demanded areas for rent. These areas make up about 35 per cent of the total demand for 2020.

Talking about the initiative, Mark Nosworthy, CEO of Bproperty said,” Given the current situation, it is understandable why there has been so much movement in the rental scene. The Covid 19 pandemic has affected almost everyone living in the city. “

He added, “A lot of people are having difficulty meeting their living expenses which would explain why they would prefer to move and rent some place less expensive. We understand people’s demand, which is why we are very much determined to help out everyone find their desired homes to rent.”