Mumbai's roaring real estate: Govt earns Rs 320.45 cr in 13 days

According to official data, over 5k conveyance sales have been recorded in March

In an encouraging trend for the real estate sector, the conveyance sale of more than 5,000 houses was recorded in the first half of March. According to the Department of Registration & Stamps Government of Maharashtra (IGR), the state earned a whopping Rs 320.45 crore revenue against conveyance sale of 5,250 houses in just 13 days of March.

Currently in Maharashtra, homebuyers have to pay 5 per cent stamp duty whereas a women purchaser pays 4 per cent duty.

Commenting on the real estate’s rise, Hitesh Thakkar, Vice President, NAREDCO West and Partner of Prem Group, "The industry is booming and it will further show encouraging performance if the government offers some tax concession to the homebuyers."

When asked that one per cent Metro cess will be applicable from April 1 so will this impact the sales, he replied, "The government needs to rethink before levying the metro cess on home buyers. Rather it should be levied on the rider/commuter like the airport development fee levied on the flyers.”

Meanwhile, across Maharashtra the IGR has recorded as many as 65,904 house conveyance sales hence generating Rs 1,076.69 crore revenue through stamp duty.

Similarly, Kaushal Agarwal, Chairman, The Guardians Real Estate Advisory lauded the government’s decision for increasing the time period from one year to three years for adjusting the stamp duty paid on the earlier deed against subsequent deed.

Also, the stamp duty exemption on gift deed to the government institutions and local corporations will really help to streamline various bottlenecks associated with land transfer in metro pockets, he underlined.

"However, the whole real estate fraternity would be disappointed without any concrete decision on the proposed metro cess. We expect the announcement of a deferment on the upcoming 1 percent metro cess,” he said.

A favorable decision would help to keep home buyers’ sentiments positive in the market.

“Moreover, at this point in time, we really can't afford any negative customer sentiments, especially after the system reboot through various structural reforms and pandemic-inflicted slowdown on the back of rising construction cost," he added.