As West Bengal witnessed power change in the state after 34 long years, the real estate projects in the city stood standstill waiting for new people to arrive and take charge. In the last one year, the city has witnessed fewer number of new project launches as compared to last year due to delay in approvals and clearances..

Pradeep Sureka, managing director of Sureka Group and President of the Kolkata Chapter of Credai, the real estate body, says, “This year the new supply in residentail segment has been significantly low as before the elections approvals had stalled and even now they are very slow. But in next 3-6 months we expect things to improve."

According to data by international property consultant, Jones Lang LaSalle India, only 4600 apartments have been launched this year as compared to 8900 last year. In the second quarter of 2011, the market witnessed the launch of four projects, offering a total of 711 new units which includes the costliest project, Atmosphere offered by Forum Group.

Though project launches have been few, the realty market unlike other parts of the country has witnessed a jump in prices by almost 15-20 per cent.Mayank Saxena, managing director in Kolkata for, Jones Lang LaSalle, says, “Post 2009, developers in the city focussed mainly on sub Rs. 20 lakh homes, but now everyone is building bigger projects and prices have increased substantially. Last year prices in Ballygaunje, were around Rs 13000-14000 per sft which has climbed upto Rs 16,000- 17000 per sft."

Also Rajarhat, has seen a price appreciation of 5 per cent in the secondary market and prices in the primary market have increased by 10-15 per cent.

Rahul Saraf, managing director, Forum Projects, says, “The last one year has been good for the residential market in the city unlike other cities and prices have appreciated by 20 per cent in most of the key micro markets."

JLL report adds, “A dip in the absorption rate in the city is anticipated due to the steady upward movement of the capital values, which are likely to rise by another 2-10 per cent during the upcoming festival season."

Rahul Todi, Managing director of Shrachi Realty, part of the Rs 800 crore Shrachi group, adds, “ Prices have appreciated in the city center by 15-20 per cent. Prices have not increased in any other city but the prices have largely been driven due to demand-supply gap in the city. This year only 5-10 significant projects have been launched and we expect the situation to continue like this for next few months."

Todi expects prices in city centre to escalate more than Rajarhat which was pitched to be the next center of development in the state.

A research analyst from an international brokerage who did not wish to be identified said, “The real estate market in Kolkata is still in a very nascent stage but prices have started to escalated and both Unitech and DLF who have projects in the city are reporting healthy sales for its launched projects. Information technology (IT) service sector has not recovered completely thus Rajarhat is witnessing more vacancy than the other part of the city like Alipore or Ballygaunje, the hotspots for residential realty projects at present."