Kolkata Apartment Registrations 79% Yoy Growth in 11-Months

The residential property registrations in greater Kolkata in the 11-month period of 2021 stood at 40,972 units, a 79% increase in residential properties being registered on a year on year basis, as the West Bengal government has decided to levy stamp duty at the reduced rate until the end of the year. The 2% stamp duty rebate has worked wonders for Kolkata residential real estate sector in the second half of the year and provided momentum to the residential sales with more than half (51%) of these units registered between July 2021 and November 2021, said Knight Frank India, the leading real estate consultancy in the country. Due to record-low home loan rates, discounts and stamp duty reductions, registration of mid and luxury residential property transactions in Kolkata has continued to expand at a rapid pace. The original stamp duty reduction policy, intended to boost demand for residential real estate, was supposed to last until October 30. However, despite the encouraging cumulative numbers, the month of November 2021 registered a YoY degrowth of 62% when compared with November 2020. This is the first time in the past five months that property registrations have declined YoY. In terms of unit sizes, apartments up to 500 sq ft, witnessed 81% y-o-y degrowth in November 2021, which is the highest across all size brackets. Unit sizes of 501-1,000 sq ft and 1,001 sq ft and above registered 41% and 25% YoY degrowth respectively. Going forward, the extension of stamp duty cut to 31st January 2022 will help channelize incremental demand in the residential real estate sector. With developers citing high input costs and intent to review selling prices, end-users are likely to take homebuying decisions while the rebate lasts.