How we lost out on a million because our ancestors refused to buy cheap land

Growing up in developing economies, there is a story that repeats itself in almost every family. Ask around and you'll know, you were "this" close to becoming a millionaire.

If not for the lack of foresight on the part of your grandparents, mother or father, you would now be living the landlord's dream.

You could have owned eight acres near the airport for only something like Tk50. Or, you see the luxurious, spacious apartments in Dhanmondi? You could have had a piece of that, if only those before you had spent that Tk3,000 or some other pocket-change amount.

Turns out, for whatever reasons, they didn't and now you're stuck representing the core neighbourhoods where you don't even own land. In the wise words of Kat Williams, "You are just renting."

Now, if we were given the option of travelling back in time, would we nudge our great-grandfather towards a particular piece of real estate? Or would we choose the more boring option of saving the world from something and in the end come back to the future, where it would have no bearing on our "broke" lives.

I once heard a friend of mine lament about how his father had sold off property in Mohammadia Housing to start a business. The business, as you would have guessed, didn't pan out.

As a people, we are often content with blaming the generation before ours for a multitude of mistakes. This one, missing out on that generational meal ticket, however, is a gaffe hard to just forgive.

If you were to look around, however, you'd yourself make the same mistake. In my case, I rather drain my salary in rent than save up to buy a piece of land in an area I haven't deemed posh enough.

I am not alone in this. A 2019 data from the Consumers Association of Bangladesh showed that at least 80% of Dhaka residents spend 60% of their income on rent.

Approximately 15.5 lakh people live in their own homes in Dhaka, while more than 90 percent are renters.

Whatever savings I am left with, goes to food delivery services and other forms of entertainment. After all, I am a product of the quick dose of dopamine generation.

And Dhaka is quickly becoming unaffordable.

According to the latest BBS survey, only 27.87% of households living in city areas now live in their own homes.

The ratio of households living on rent is the highest in the city corporation area at 68.58%.

But just across the river, there is ample land up for grabs, but our minds are still stuck in the city.

The BBS survey showed that 84.87% of households live in their own homes across the country.

Across the country, there is land – affordable even – which won't get a look in from us, because we are so tied to this life where we aren't landlords.

The sins of our fathers will soon become our sins. But it's fine, if we can survive, so can our children.

We want this tradition of being so close to a millionaire to carry on.