KATHMANDU, Oct 13: The country’s real estate transactions, which had already been declining since the beginning of the current fiscal year (FY) 2025/26, have slowed down even further after the Gen Z movement.
According to Ganesh Bhatta, spokesperson for the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives, and Poverty Alleviation, the Gen Z movement resulted in arson and vandalism at 22 land revenue offices and 14 survey offices across the country. Among them, five land revenue offices were completely destroyed, while 17 others suffered partial damage.
Similarly, eight survey offices were completely destroyed, and six were partially damaged. Spokesperson Bhatta said that while some of the affected offices have resumed partial operations, the overall pace of land transactions has dropped significantly.
Khimananda Acharya, spokesperson for the Department of Land Management and Archives, said that land transactions across the country have decreased after the Gen Z movement. “We are still calculating the exact percentage, but it is clear that the number of land transactions has fallen sharply since the movement,” he said.
He added that compared to the same month last year, land transactions have decreased this year. In recent years, Bhaktapur and Lalitpur have seen higher levels of land trading compared to other districts, but Bhaktapur too has witnessed a drop in activity following the movement, said Madhav Ghimire, chief of the Bhaktapur Land Revenue Office.
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“Compared to last year, the number of people visiting the Bhaktapur Land Revenue Office this month has noticeably decreased, indicating a slowdown in land transactions,” Ghimire said.
According to the department, the downward trend began in mid-July. As land transactions declined, government revenue also fell proportionally.
Compared to the same month of FY 2024/25, transactions in mid-July to mid-August 2025/26 have dropped sharply. Before the Gen Z movement, there were 135 active land revenue and survey offices across the country. The 22 land revenue offices and 14 survey offices damaged during the movement have been significantly affected.
From mid-July to mid-August of FY 2023/24, there were 127,206 land-related transactions nationwide, while only 104,218 were recorded during the same period of the current FY — a decline of nearly 20 percent.
Around 500 local levels have yet to complete land classification, leading to restrictions on land plotting in those areas, which has also contributed to the slowdown. Additionally, the Kathmandu Valley Development Authority has instructed survey and land revenue offices to suspend transactions for 94 land plotting projects in Kathmandu, labeling them illegal. This has further dampened the capital’s land market.
Officials also pointed out that banks typically complete their fiscal transactions by mid-July, leading to slower loan processing from mid-July to mid-August. Since the Gen Z movement erupted in the second week of September, loan procedures were further disrupted, compounding the decline in land activity.
According to the department, compared to FY 2023/24, about 60,000 fewer transactions were recorded in FY 2024/25. In FY 2023/24, approximately 1.6 million transactions took place, whereas in FY 2024/25, the figure dropped to about 1.54 million.
Data show that between mid-July 2023 and mid-March 2024, land transactions generated Rs 25.43 billion in revenue, while between mid-July 2024 and mid-March 2025, the figure rose slightly to Rs 28.49 billion. Total revenue from land registration fees in FY 2024/25 stood at Rs 51.42 billion.
During FY 2023/24, the government offered tax concessions totaling Rs 4.69 billion — Rs 3.49 billion for women, Rs 1.10 billion for persons with disabilities, and Rs 100 million under other categories — to promote inclusiveness.
That year, 1,424 cases were settled by distributing 2.8 million square meters of land between owners and tenants to end dual ownership.
According to the department, there are currently 11.47 million landowners across the country, of whom 6.98 million (61 percent) are men and 4.48 million (39 percent) are women. In urban areas, however, female land ownership has reached nearly 50 percent.
Data from FY 2023/24 also show that land transactions were nearly equal between men and women, with 400,241 women and 403,451 men involved in land deals.
Nationwide, there are 32.84 million individual land plots, of which 22.02 million are registered under men and 9.76 million under women, according to the department.
