Finally it’s time to unwrap some good news after a prolonged wait for Kolkata real estate market. As we all know on hand inventories caused slowdown in new project development by 30% and had been followed by an overall indifferent market sentiment. Accordingly it macadamized higher interest rates for luxury residential units, the prices of which too have been dwindling. Residential property sale in Kolkata has cashed in price reduction and started offering lucrative offers on home-buying.
Properties in the most expensive areas, like Ballygunge and New Alipore, are now priced between Rs 18,000 and Rs 20,000 per sq. ft. weigh against Rs 25,000 per sq. ft. (roughly) quoted in September-October 2016. “A lot of inventory in the luxury housing segment priced at a ticket price of Rs 1.5 crore and above were lying unsold for over two years. Demonetisation further slowed down the market. Thanks to the new move, prices of several projects are seeing a discount between 10 to 15%,” said Champalall Baid, Director of city-based real estate firm Champalall and Co. Roughly 50 units in the Rs 1.5 crore and above category were sold in the last three months, Baid said. Prices of projects on Burdwan Road, Rajarhat and southern portion of EM bypass have also witnessed the price reduction.
“Though the reduction might not seem very significant, for luxury projects which are generally more than 2,000 sq ft, the 10% discount per sq ft results in prices going down by a few lakhs,” added Baid.’’ Projects whose share of sold units stood at 40% now stands at 60%, informed Baid.
Now the luxury realty of Kolkata is recovering the damage done by demonetization. “Queries have gone up by 100% and are also resulting in purchases. Launches that had taken a hit in the last calendar year will also show improvement with inventory in the luxury segment being sold off,” confirmed Nandu Belani, president of CREDAI Bengal.
According to the research of Knight Frank happened in July- December, focusing on Kolkata luxury realty, declared the city had witnessed some growth in sale during the first half and to and taken south in the second half. The properties that have been sold were mostly from Rajarhat, Garia, Narendrapur and Baruipur belt and most of them of LIG and MIG category.
“From 5,784 units sold in April-June 2015, sales crashed to 3,413 units in October-December 2016. But we see the situation changing with fiscal prudence in the budget and the economy accommodating demonetisation steadily. Launches of more projects towards mid-year can also be expected,” said Knight Frank chief economist and national director Samantak Das.
By LNN( Liyans News Network)