kochi the real estate players of kochi are expecting a revival of the sector as part of the nationwide sentiment triggered by the slow opening up of the economy but the sector is also witnessing rising raw material costs triggered by the pandemicthere will be a surge in demand in kochi too as what is happening across the country sunil kumar managing director asset homes and executive member credaikochi said however the construction cost in kerala has gone up considerably during the pandemic period making it unaffordable he saidthe construction costs have gone up in two ways the first being the higher prices of raw materials which comes around rs 350 per sq ft and secondly rs 500 due to the unavailability of gst input tax credit in effect the per sq ft price have gone up by rs 850 in kochi kumar said a boom might be coming in kochi too but the question now is whether the market will be able to absorb the increase in construction costs he addedkochis real estate sector relies much on nonresident keralites nrks except for the affordable housing projects nrks account for 60 of the overall clientele he said according to him this segment will strengthen only if the borders are opened up and air travel becomes cheaperthe carpet area prices of real estate properties in kochi has been increasing steadily over the past seven years shows the national housing bank nhb residex the housing price index of the regulatory body for housing finance companies overall the carpet area prices at the assessment prices in kochi grew from rs 4288 to rs 6843 per sq ft a growth of 60 over seven yearsand the rental market in kochi is sitting on a huge stockpile of flats and independent houses though there is a modest improvement in the situation when toi had contacted m a aslam of a star realtors a real estate broking agency in april the firm had a list of nearly 1000 flats available for occupancy at kakkanad and it was only a tip of the iceberg back then kochi had 500010000 flats or houses being vacant however after five months things have started changingnow we have a list of only 300 flats said aslam citing the fact that people have started slowly coming back