Planning to buy a residential property in Kolkata?

Here’s an insight to Kolkata’s residential property market:-

Property market of Kolkata has always defined as the property for the end-user. But these days, investor activities have started to gain ground in the city. As per realty experts, it is the real estate major, DLF that has brought Kolkata in the attention of real estate investors.

After winning the tender floated by Kolkata Municipal Development Authority, the company bought 4,900 acre of land in Kolkata outskirts, at a cost of Rs 2,400 crore. The company is developing as much as 3,900 acre of land for residential purposes while the rest will be utilized for building commercial properties.

Not only DLF, there are many other real estate companies for whom Kolkata has become a favored real estate destination. The city is now not lagging behind in terms of real estate. In fact, with the coming of the best builders in Kolkata real estate market, growth of secondary residential districts of New Alipur, Moulali, Shah Road, Prince Anwar, Sealdah and Kankurgachi has been triggered.

The capital values for residential properties in Kolkata have increased by 30-50% in these areas in the last couple of years and the rentals have shot up by an average of 15%. These locations are situated within the radius of 10 kms of the central residential area that encompasses Ballygunje, Alipore and Hastings. In these areas, capital value of residential plots is as high as Rs 4,500 per sq ft. The capital values for a 3,000 sq ft apartment in Alipur are between Rs 1.50 and 2 crore. The average rentals in the aforementioned locations are from Rs 25,000 to Rs 60,000 per month.

But buying a property in Kolkata has now become next to impossible. One can opt to buy a property in peripheral locations at the eastern side of the city. Huge construction activities have taken place at Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, Kasba, New Rajerghat Township and Topsia. Capital values for apartments are in the range of Rs 1,800 to Rs 2,400 per sq ft in these locations.

Real estate scenario in North Kolkata and South Kolkata:-

The real estate market of North Kolkata has become much more expensive due to scarcity of land here. According to a broker, most of the North Kolkata residents who have been staying there for generations do not want to leave this place. Many North Kolkatans' have migrated and are settled abroad but the rest want to stay in the homeland.

Due to the scarcity of good land and the fact that residents still want to stay here, North Kolkata's property values have witnessed a hike.

One cannot deny the fact that North Kolkata is overpopulated and therefore the prices in the city have gone up. The worst part is that one can't even widen the roads here as there is no scope for widening it. The place thrives on small builders who have up to 3-4 kathas of land and have been erecting structures of G+3/4 (Ground floor plus three/ four) storey buildings. North Kolkata has not been able to attract many established real estate developers unlike South Kolkata where a lot of builders are taking interest.

On the other hand, South Kolkata areas such as Park Street, Ballygunj Street etc are well planned and have greater open spaces. South Kolkata has better infrastructure as well. It also a prime commercial hub and is home to many corporate offices in Kolkata.

People in North Kolkata and South Kolkata have an absolutely different style of living. Most of the North Kolkatans are business class people and some are service class such as IT professionals. North Kolkata houses IT professionals due to its proximity to Sector 5 which is the IT hub. But South Kolkata is home to both middle class and upper middle class who are senior executives in multinational companies.

So, one can say that the gentry living in South Kolkata and the real estate market of this part of Kolkata is definitely much more refined. But the property prices of both these areas are sky rocketing, which makes it difficult for a buyer to buy a property here.

If you want to know about the latest trends or property prices of the city, there is a lot of information available in various property portals.