kolkata the city witnessed a jump in new home launches by 539 per cent at 3801 units in januarymarch 2017 quarter against that in the previous quarter a real estate research firm said developers are anticipating higher demand in the coming quarters though absorption remained under stress for q1 declining by 38 per cent due to weak demand a real estate data research and analytics firm propequity release said unsold stock in kolkata has reduced to 05 per cent at 44487 units and price eased by 15 per cent it said propequity said home launches dipped to 1946 per cent across top eight cities in the first quarter of 2017 from 28428 units to 22897 units the demand and new launches of residential projects slowed down in q1 as impact of demonetisation on the real estate sector tapered down faster than the expectations real estate sector in india especially housing is going through a critical transition phase post demonetisation as transaction activity has slowed down propequity founder and ceo samir jasuja said the recent budgetary announcement to grant industry status to affordable housing and allowing banks to invest in real estate investment trusts reits will have a strong positive impact on overall sentiment in the sector he said