Property registrations in Mumbai drop by 50% in April

The Maharashtra government's decision to renege on the stamp duty cut offer has led to a 50% dip in property registrations and stamp duty revenue in Greater Mumbai in April, in comparison to March. Between April 1-28, only 8,754 property documents were registered in Mumbai, while revenue collection as stamp duty was at Rs 464 crore. Data shows that 17,728 property documents were registered in March, which earned the state Rs 875 crore. Stamp duty revenue collected across Maharashtra in March and April also showed a sharp difference. In March, the state earned Rs 9,067 crore as stamp duty when 2.13 lakh property documents were registered. In April (till Wednesday afternoon), the collection was Rs 1,103 crore from 83,843 registered documents. Industry experts told the media that the primary reason which compiled this data was the state's decision to not extend stamp duty benefits. Last year, when the first wave of Covid-19 crippled the real estate market, the state government slashed stamp duty from 5% to 2% from September 1 till December 31, 2020. It was then marginally increased to 3% from January 1 till 31 March 2021. The stamp duty cut led to a surge in apartment sales between September 2020-March 2021. Real estate developers urged the state to extend the benefit, but the government rolled back the duty to 5% from April. Image Source Also read: Consistent growth in sales during stamp duty cut period: Anarock Also read: Real estate stamp duty: Maha govt reinstates 5%, industry reacts