Mumbai property registration gathers pace, July collection at Rs 242 crore

MUMBAI: Property registration activity in Mumbai, the country’s most expensive real estate market, has picked up in July bouncing back from the activity witnessed in April-June quarter. While collections from real estate activities are improving, it still remains below the pre-Covid19 level.
The collections stood at Rs 242 crore in July as against Rs 169 crore in June and Rs 470 crore in February prior to the outbreak of the virus and subsequent lockdowns, the government data showed.

Total number of documents registered in July stood at 21,311 in Mumbai. Out of this, e-registration of leave and license ranked the highest at 12,188 deeds fetching Rs 1.89 crore stamp duty, while the maximum revenue was fetched through registration of sale deeds that stood at Rs 214 crore.

The lowest revenue received during the year so far was in the month of April at Rs 43,000 only. April was the first month of lockdown directives issued by the government and during this period apart from commercial activities even the government departments for stamp duty collection were shut.

The state government had decided to open all 26 offices of Mumbai division on May 18 but following the directives regarding containment zone restrictions, only five offices were kept operational initially. As of now, all 26 offices across the city and suburbs have resumed full operations.

“It is a mix of new transactions and some earlier deals that were in discussion prior to lockdown as both buyers and sellers may have been waiting for the sub-registrar offices to reopen,” Sandeep Reddy, director of real estate data analytics firm Propstack.

Some deals may have been the result of discounts or incentives offered by developers for a limited period, experts said. Some of the large commercial and residential deals concluded and registered recently have also pushed the stamp duty collections upward.

Following the announcement of lockdown in March, the Maharashtra government had decided to keep ready reckoner rates unchanged for the current financial year in the backdrop of the pandemic.

In the beginning of every financial year, based on the market dynamics, the government's revenue department determines these rates to be used as a base price for calculation of stamp duty.