House rent on the rise: BBS

House rent in different parts of Bangladesh rose by 5.93 percent in the April-June period of fiscal 2022-23, placing an additional burden on many lower and middle-income households, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).

As per the House Rent Index (HRI), the cost of rent saw quarter-to-quarter growth of 0.12 percentage points from 5.81 percent in the January-March period of the previous fiscal year.

The recent growth comes on the back of a steady decline in the preceding two quarters, with the average growth in house rent standing at 5.86 percent during the October-December period.

During the initial quarter of fiscal 2022-23, the average growth in house rent was 6.11 percent.

The BBS released its updated HRI after compiling the cost of renting houses of three categories, namely concrete, corrugated iron sheet and mud houses.

The mud house category saw the highest rent growth during the April-June period, with its related index number rising to 111.19 from 110.83, as per HRI data.

According to a BBS official, house rent is included in the non-food category of the consumer price index.

"When house owners hike the rent, there is nobody to look after the issue," said Baharane Sultan Bahar, president of the Bangladesh Varatia Parishad, an association of renters in the country.

"Although Bangladesh has the Premises Rent Control Act, 1991, there is no implementation of the law," he added.

As per the Premises Rent Control Act, if the rent of a house increases beyond its standard point, then the rent shall not be recoverable (collectable), notwithstanding anything different in any contract.

Section 3 of the law states that a controller and deputy controller are supposed to be appointed to specific areas, where they are empowered to decide the standard rent.

"But we did not see the implementation of such laws," Bahar added.

Talking to The Daily Star, Ghulam Rahman, president of the Consumers Association of Bangladesh, said the rising rent issue is a cause-and-effect problem of ongoing inflationary pressure.

"As the country's people are facing elevated inflationary pressure for a long time, house owners are passing some of the burden onto their tenants," he added.

Rahman also said house owners have a rationale to increase the rent as building maintenance costs are rising as well.

"As a result, it is taking a toll on low-income and fixed-income groups," he added.

Kamal Mahmud, vice president of the Real Estate and Housing Association of Bangladesh, said house owners are able to raise the rent owing to the lax implementation of existing laws.

Subsequently, the number of sublets has been increasing over the years, he added.

However, Mahmud saw the possibility of further growth in house rent, especially in newly constructed buildings, due to the current price hike of building materials.

Construction costs rose in the first six months of 2023 to stand at 6.22 percent as of June.

This has made it costlier to implement both public and private construction projects, according to the Building Materials Price Index of the BBS.