As the three per cent stamp duty offer ending on March 31, the state stamp duty registration office has extended timings till 8pm from 6pm.
An official at the stamp duty registration office said, "In the month of March in last few weeks they worked even on weekends except on Holi so that homebuyers can take the benefit as much as possible. Besides, homebuyers are provided with token numbers so on given time and day they can do registration of their booked property and prevent crowd."
The Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) government for encouraging homebuyers and reviving the real estate sector in the state had announced various concessions including reduction in stamp duty charges which was five percent earlier.
According to the stamp duty registration office records, in March so far, over 16,000 houses have been sold generating revenue of nearly Rs 716.60 crore from Mumbai alone. Interestingly, in December, the closing month for the first phase of reduced stamp duty of 2 per cent had similarly driven an increase in registrations, as homebuyers rushed to make the most of the lower stamp duty offer.
Meanwhile, analysing the upward trend in home buying activity giving a much needed push to the realty sector, the real estate body, CREDAI MCHI has urged for extension of stamp duty cut in Maharashtra by one year, till March 31, 2022. Developers have also supported the demand.
Developer of Azlo Realty, CEO Krish Raveshia said, "Extending the prevailing lower stamp duty for at least a year will improve homebuyer sentiment and increased property registrations. It will entice homebuyers to invest, revenue for the state government and help reduce inventory level for the developers, so a win-win for all stakeholders."
The lower stamp duty offer that began from September 1, 2020 till date, led to the sale of total 75,688 units and the total revenue has been over Rs 2,578 crore. When compared to the period before the stamp duty cut, i.e January 2020 to August 2020 the government had collected Rs 1,756 crore.
