BENGALURU: In apparent relief to home buyers, the State Budget proposes to bring down stamp duty on the first-time registration of apartments valued at Rs 35 lakh to Rs 45 lakh, from 5% to 3%.This is being done with an eye on making housing affordable, and a similar move by Maharashtra last year saw a major boost in sales due to limited-period stamp duty cuts. However, Anuj Puri, chairman, ANAROCK Property Consultants, said, “While the move does carry a feel-good factor and will strike the right chord, it is not likely to give a significant boost to housing sales in Bengaluru, on the lines of what we saw in Mumbai.”
He explained that this is so because in Maharashtra, stamp duty was reduced for properties across all budget segments, not just one category. “The fact is that housing demand in Bengaluru is largely skewed towards the mid-segment, involving properties priced in the Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore budget range. For these properties, stamp duty charges remain the same at nearly 5%.”
As per research by ANAROCK, at present, Bengaluru has total unsold stock of nearly 59,350 units across all budget segments. Of this, just 24% is within the Rs 45 lakh price bracket, while 64% is within the Rs 45 lakh to Rs 1.5 crore budget range. “In other words, the cut in the Rs 35 lakh to Rs 45 lakh budget may not have a significant impact,” Puri said.
Rajendra Joshi, CEO, Residential Brigade Enterprises Ltd, agreed with Puri, “While stamp duty benefit has been declared for the fiscal year 2021-22, the cycle of planning to execution to registration of properties is significantly longer. ”