Mumbai’s April property registrations best in 10 years

MUMBAI: Property registrations in Mumbai, the country’s biggest real estate market, were the best in 10 years for April with more than 10,136 completed deals, due to a spillover effect from earlier months.

The completed deals led to stamp duty revenue collection of ₹514 crore during the month, data from the Inspector General of Registration (IGR), Maharashtra, showed.

Experts said a spillover effect from earlier months pushed up numbers as actual deals concluded in April were much lower.

The onset of the Covid-19 second wave, local restrictions and partial lockdowns had, as expected, slowed the sales momentum, resulting in delayed conclusion of deals.

Only 7% of these registration numbers were from new residential sales concluded in April, while 93% of the registrations were from properties transacted between December 2020 and March 2021 for which applicable stamp duties were paid during the lower rate window, a study conducted by property consultant Knight Frank India revealed.

In December, the Maharashtra government had given a leeway of four months to homebuyers to register a property after payment of stamp duty, to prevent crowding at registration offices.

This ensured that homebuyers who had purchased residences and paid stamp duty on or before March 31, had a maximum window of four months — until July 31 — from the respective date of payment of stamp duty for registering their apartment.

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