Despite rising interest rates, the number of property registrations in the most expensive real estate market in the nation has increased during the current holiday season. According to data from the inspector general of registration, Maharashtra, real estate sales during Navratri between September 26 and October 4 increased by 14% year over year to 3,659 apartments, up from 3,025 homes sold during the previous Navratri period between October 7, 2021, and October 15, 2021. This year's Navratri season saw an increase in daily average sales, which went from 356 in 2021 to 407 this year. “The Mumbai residential market has seen a great response from home buyers during the auspicious days of Navratri, which indicates that the sentiments towards home ownership have remained strong despite the recent hikes in home loan rates,” said Shishir Baijal, CMD, Knight Frank India. “This is also because other factors like property prices, income levels etc., have remained stable during the last six months apart from a positive GDP growth projection. Due to the upbeat mood and holiday incentives provided by real estate developers to encourage larger sales, he anticipates the upcoming days of the Diwali festival will continue to see an upward trend. The higher number of enquiries and conversions of those into actual sales is providing us confidence that the sentiment among homebuyers continues to be positive, said Boman Irani, president, CREDAI-MCHI. Various incentives offered by real estate developers are helping homebuyers realise their dream of buying a house. We expect this momentum to continue during the festive season”, he added. In addition to the customary gifts like vehicles and gold coins, real estate developers have started offering incentives like a full stamp duty waiver, interest subvention schemes, house exchange offers, lower down payments, free luxury interiors, and a GST waiver on reservations over the holiday season. To lessen the impact of the rising interest rate regime on potential homebuyers' affordability levels and to support the continuation of the strong sales momentum, realtors have also started to implement mitigation measures. Following the state government's decision to offer a limited window stamp duty decrease beginning in September 2020, real estate transactions in Mumbai have been setting new records for more than two years. Although the benefit of cheaper stamp duty is no longer available, this short-term window of reduced stamp duty that began in March 2021 proved to be a significant stimulus for the city's property market. Despite rising interest rates and a Shraadh time that is typically seen unfavourably by most Hindus, it reached yet another pinnacle by establishing the best September performance in terms of registration of real estate deals and revenue collection from stamp duty costs. 8,628 real estate transactions were recorded in the nation's commercial capital during the month, an increase of 11% from the same period last year, while stamp duty collections brought in an increase of 39% in revenue for the exchequer of 7.34 bn. See also: Residential sales attain 4-year high across top 8 cities in Jan-Mar Property registrations’ revenue hits record of Rs 12,700 cr in TN