KOLKATA: Property registrations in the Kolkata Metropolitan Area in Feb increased three times over the previous month and more than 60% over the previous Feb, indicating a strong revival of home sales.
The bouncing back of sales in the affordable home sector has contributed significantly to this growth. While there was a time lag between property sales and registrations earlier, they happen almost simultaneously now to avail of the 2% stamp duty cut benefit, being offered by the state since July 2021.
According to figures collated from the state directorate of registrations & stamps revenue by real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank India, 4,806 apartment registrations were recorded in Feb. The number is 306% more than that in Jan 2024, when 1,184 flats were registered, and 64% more than that in Feb 2023, when 2,922 were registered. Last year, Jan registration count at 4,178 was 30% higher than that in Feb.
The share of unit sizes up to 500 sq ft, scaled up from 27% in Feb 2023 to 43% at the end of Feb 2024, pointing to a revival of budget apartments that had seen a sharp decline following upward revision of home loan interest rates last year. Apartments, ranging from 501 sq ft to 1,000 sq ft, constituted 48% of the total registrations in Feb ’24. The share of this apartment size category moderated marginally from Feb 2023, when it constituted 50% of the total. The share of unit sizes over 1,000 sq ft has shrunk from 23% to 9% in a year.
Statistics for Feb ’24 showed the north zone topped the micro-market registration tally with 43% share of Kolkata’s total apartment registrations, up from 21% share a year ago. This is largely due to the rise in demand for affordable homes among price-sensitive homebuyers. In contrast, the share of the south zone has decreased from 41% in Feb 2023 to 33% in Feb 2024. The share of Rajarhat has remained stable at 6%. But central, east and west zones witnessed moderation in their shares in the past one year.
Knight Frank India senior director (east) Abhijit Das said, “As Kolkata marks its best Feb property registrations since 2020, the growth underscores the city’s resilience and vitality in the real estate sector. It not only points to the city’s economic buoyancy but also signals a dynamic shift in the preferences of homebuyers, reaffirming Kolkata’s position as a thriving real estate market.”
Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India (Credai) Bengal chapter president Siddharth Pansari said the revival of the affordable home segment was a huge positive for the market. “The rising demand for homes is here to stay for a while. There may be a blip for a couple of months due to the election but once the polls are over, the market will be buoyant again,” he said.
Credai Bengal president Sushil Mohta said the continued support from the state for almost two-and-a-half years in stamp duty rebate has not only attributed to this record number of registration of residential properties but also catalysed the upward growth of the real estate sector in Kolkata and rest of Bengal. “It would benefit the sector if it were made a permanent feature of the market,” he said.
