The recovery seen in the realty sector earlier this year seems to be slowing down, with the number of transactions and revenue taking a hit in the recent months.

According to the latest records of the Department of Land Management and Archive, altogether 54,514 houses and plots of land were bought and sold across the country in the one-month period between mid-May and mid-June.

Likewise, a total of 123,652 real estate transactions took place in the review month, an improvement from 98,974 transactions carried out between mid-April and mid-May.

The number of properties traded rose by 13,711 in the review period compared to the previous month (mid-April to mid-May), when 40,803 properties (houses and land) were sold across the country. The local level elections had affected the real estate business that month.

The revenue generated from real estate business also decelerated in the review period. According to the department, the government collected revenue worth Rs 4.24 billion from real estate transactions in the review month, a fall of around Rs 500 million compared to the previous month. Even though the transactions had dropped in between mid-April and mid-May, the government had collected revenue worth Rs 4.78 billion from real estate transactions that month.

The property sales in the Kathmandu valley were also affected in the 11th month of the current fiscal year.

According to the data provided by the Land Revenue Department, nine Land Revenue Offices in the three districts of the valley reported sales of 5,763 properties in the review month against 6,109 properties between mid-May and mid-June As per the department, the highest number of property sales was from the Land Revenue Office (LRO) Lagankhel, with 1,445 land and houses.

Likewise, 1,315 properties were sold and bought from LRO Bhaktapur, 1,024 from LRO Kalanki, 829 from LRO Sankhu, 613 from LRO Chabahil, 273 from LRO Dilli Bazaar, 239 from LRO Tokha and 25 from LRO Gotikhel, respectively.

The business activities in the realty sector had stagnated after the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) tightened the provisions for loans to real estate industry citing liquidity crunch in the banking and finance sector. The real estate loans for land acquisition and development attract risk weight of 150 per cent, as per the amendment to the Unified Directive 2021-22 of the NRB.

As per the government data, 70,829 houses and plots of land changed hands in between mid- March and mid-April. Likewise, a total of 74,036 properties (houses and land) were sold across the country in the month between mid-February and mid-March, which was the second highest since the start of this fiscal.

source: the himalayan times, 17 June 2022