Mumbai: The sale of houses in Mumbai city and suburbs has fetched a revenue of about Rs 300 crore only through stamp duty registration till October 23, as per the records from the Inspector General of Registration and Controller of Stamps. Surprisingly, the state exchequer did not witness any decline despite the Mahavikas Aghadi government slashed stamp duty from 5 to 3 per cent up to December and further until March by 2 per cent in a bid to revive the cash-hit real estate sector and provide relief to homebuyers.
The experts associated with the realty industry believe that there has been a gradual increase in sale of properties which was largely affected in the initial days of lockdown.
According to the availed data, from October 1 to 23, total Rs 314.21 crore revenue garnered through stamp duty registration from properties sold out in Mumbai city and suburbs and total 12,124 registration made. Similarly, from September 1 to 30, total of Rs 226.86 crore revenue garnered and a total of 12,156 registration made, in August the stamp duty revenue recorded was Rs 204.26 crore and total 7,422 registrations were made. In July revenue recorded was of Rs 231.69 crore and total of 6,489 registration were made.
Appreciating the move of the state govt on stamp duty relaxation, Ram Naik, Executive Director, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory, commented, "This decision has played a significant role in helping revive demand for the real estate sector post the extended lockdowns. The decision has pushed a large section of customers on the fence to finally close their transactions. The decision has served as a short-in-the-arm for the sector and government revenues."
A real estate broker, Parimal Salvi of Sai Siddhi Real Estate Consultancy firm, said, "Now hardly any transaction is made in cash so everything is transparent which was not the case earlier. Local builders prior demonetization usually used to stress on 60:40 formula for payments but such is not the case today. If a flat is sold for Rs 1 crore the agreement is made on that amount only. Following this government is also earning its share."
