Homebuyers will now have to pay five per cent stamp duty on property purchase as state remains silent on lower stamp duty extension offer, which ended on March 31st. Developers are of the opinion that discontinuing the offer will bring distress to the sector and homebuyers.
Pritam Chivukula, Co-Founder & Director, Tridhaatu Realty and Secretary, CREDAI MCHI commented, "The State Government's decision to discontinue the stamp duty benefit will be a huge distress for the homebuyers who would have decided to buy their dream home but couldn't do so because of the severe impact of the pandemic. We had requested the Government to extend the stamp duty benefit for atleast a year so that more and more buyers could fulfill their wish of buying their home. We will continue to urge the Government to reconsider their decision and extend the stamp duty benefit further in interest of the homebuyers."
Similarly, another prominent developer, Rohit Poddar, Managing Director, of Poddar Housing and Development Ltd said, "The stamp duty reduction has spurred the sales and registration in Maharashtra to an all-time high, assisting the government in generating more revenue than the actual rates would have yielded. To sustain the momentum, it is essential for the government to extend the stamp duty reduction till March 2022 which in turn would help in generating even more revenue while destressing the real estate sector thereby bringing the economy back on the growth track at high pace."
While no extension has been given, the concession of one percent to women homebuyers announced on the state budget day continues. Meaning, women homebuyers will pay four per cent stamp duty instead of five per cent on property purchase.
Interestingly, the reduction in stamp duty charges from two percent till December 2020 and later to three percent till March 2021 from previously five per cent yielded good response to the real estate sector. Home buying witnessed an upward trend. In the month of March, over 17,710 conveyance of recorded generating revenue of nearly Rs 839.12 crore. Similarly, in December 2020 which was the closing month for the first phase of reduced stamp duty of two per cent had also driven an increase in registrations, as homebuyers rushed to make the most of the lower stamp duty offer.
Meanwhile, the lower stamp duty offer that began from September 1st 2020 till date, had led to the sale of nearly 75,688 units and the total revenue has been over Rs 2,578 crores. 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.
