It's not just cheap rentals that make Kolkata attractive. A successful private-public partnership model, fiscal incentives by the state government, the political stability, non-monopolistic nature of the real estate market and an IT sector that is growing at 70%, twice the national figure, are some of the key features of Kolkata's real estate market," Lottefier.

Even as the realty market in cities like Kolkata will continue to grow, the firm expects real estate prices to start cooling off within the next 18 months. According to it, vacancy rates in pockets of prime IT hubs in the country have started rising.

"Within the next 12-18 months, we expect prices of relatively poorly developed commercial properties to cool as we expect overheating in select pockets," Lottefier said.

The abnormally high vacancy in the Whitefield IT hub in Bangalore is a case in point, senior manager Abhishek Kiran Gupta said.

"In Whitefield, about 18-19 per cent of the capacity is currently vacant and this could be pointer. However, for India as a whole, the average vacancy rate for commercial and IT properties is at a comfortable 5 per cent," Gupta said.