Realty sales drop to an all-time low

Purchase of apartments in Kolkata has slowed to a trickle since August with promotion and sales taking a back seat as realtors and developers queue up to register brokers and projects under the West Bengal Housing Industry Regulation Act (WBHIRA). Sources in the industry said sales were down to an all-time low, with numbers in September even lower than 2008-09 when sales had crashed following the US mortgage crisis. “Sales started dipping in August as the deadline for registration of ongoing projects loomed over the horizon. In September, transactions halted in the first couple of weeks. After the notification on fees was issued on September 13, the registration process got under way. It has picked up pace since, but we anticipate a sigificant drop in September sales. With low sales also predicted during the festive season in October, it will be a challenging quarter,” said Biplab Kumar, vice-president at N K Realtors.