Kolkata, Dec 23 (FN Agency) Knight Frank, India’s leading real estate consultancy, has noted that the Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) has witnessed the registration of 3,047 residential sales agreements in November 2022, marking a 167pc year-on-year (YoY) growth over November 2021. This high annual growth is due to limited property registrations last year in November as there was a lack of awareness about the extension of the stamp duty rebate beyond 31st October 2021, a year ago. However, on a month-on-month (MoM) basis, the November 2022 figures denote a 55 pc decline over October 2022 as the bulk of properties awaiting registrations were captured earlier during 2022 and the stamp duty rebate is again nearing its expiry, unless another extension is announced in 2023. In 2022, Kolkata’s residential market continued to benefit from the 2pc stamp duty remission which was extended thrice during this calendar year – from 31st March to 31st September and thereafter to 31st December 2022 to provide relief to homebuyers.
As many homebuyers have completed their primary home purchases, since the announcement of the stamp duty rebate in July 2021, sales volumes may moderate going forward as homebuyers’ affordability is affected in the wake of higher home loan costs. Since the initial stamp duty cut announcement in July 2021, 72,790 residential properties have been registered in the city in these 17 months. The preceding 17 months prior to the introduction of the stamp duty rebate saw the registration of only 44,736 units.Homes in the size range of 47-92 sq m (501-1,000 sq ft) accounted for the maximum share of 51% of the total registrations in November 2022. The bigger unit sizes of more than 93 sq m (more than 1,001 sq ft) comprised one-fourth or 25% share in the total pie. Smaller units of up to 46 sq m (up to 500 sq ft) comprised 24 pc share of the total.
At 221 pc, there was a relatively higher growth in the 47-92 sq m (501-1,000 sq ft) size range category in November 2022.Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director, Knight Frank India, said, “Kolkata is one of the few Indian cities where homebuyers still enjoy a stamp duty rebate. Though the privilege is set to expire by the end of this year, we are hopeful the state government may consider another extension as now homebuyers’ affordability has been dented due to the multiple repo rate revisions in 2022. Since this typically impacts purchases in the price sensitive affordable and mid-end segments, continuation of this rebate will help the homebuying momentum as we step into 2023.” Abhijit Das – Senior Director – East, Knight Frank India said, “Reduction in stamp duty is a good way to pre-pone and expedite registrations which help augment revenues for the government. However, to consistently enhance consumption of real estate in Bengal all the stakeholders need to keep on doing activities which attract new direct investments in Bengal in manufacturing and services, which in turn generates additional employment and hence demand for real estate.”