More than 7,500 property deals were registered in Mumbai in September 2021 (as of September 29) which is an almost 11 percent increase month-on-month (MoM) compared to August 2021, according to data from the Inspector General of Registration (IGR), Maharashtra, available until September 29.
The registration number is up by 87 percent compared to September 2019 when 4,032 units were registered pre-pandemic and 35 percent higher than September 2020 when 5,597 units were registered soon after the stamp duty cut was announced by the Maharashtra government on August 26, 2020, analysis by Propstack showed.
The number of registrations in August 2021 was 6,784 which was an almost a 157 percent increase compared to August 2020 when the units registered were at 2,642. Registrations were higher than last year because of a low base. The number of registrations was at 5,873 in August 2019, analysis by Propstack showed.
In the month of July 2021, as many as 9,823 units were registered. The maximum number of units, as many as 17,728, were registered in the month of March 2021, the last month to avail of the Maharashtra government’s stamp duty cut benefit.
As far as stamp duty is concerned, around Rs 515 crore has been the collection until September 29, 2021. It was Rs 421 crore in August 2021 and Rs 566.8 crore in July 2021, according to data from IGR. Rs 875 crore were collected at the end of March 2021, the last month to avail of the stamp duty benefit.
The stamp duty collection for September 2021 at around Rs 515 crore is up by almost 48 percent versus September 2019 when Rs 347.57 crore were collected , and is up 185 percent versus September 2020 when the collection was at Rs 181 crore, the Propstack analysis showed.
Around Rs 10,300 crore worth of property was sold in the month of September 2021 (until September 29) which is up 78 percent versus the pre-pandemic numbers of September 2019 and 22 percent up versus September 2020, the analysis showed.
In August 2021, properties worth Rs 8,420 crore were sold; in July 2021 properties worth Rs 11, 336 crore were sold and in March, the last month of availing the stamp duty waiver, properties worth Rs 29,166 crore were sold, the analysis said.
"There has been a big jump in sales in this month despite the last week being slow because of Shradh. The numbers are even better than September 2020 where the stamp duty was cut to 2 percent. We expect the market to do well driven by the upcoming festive season and new launches by developers," said Sandeep Reddy, co-founder, Propstack.
According to an analysis by Knight Frank India, the stamp duty cut window that closed on March 31, 2021, had translated into spill-over of registrations to the ensuing months. However, that incidence is now marginal on account of the steadily increasing fresh sales that rose from 7 percent in April 2021 to 53 percent in July 2021. Now at its highest level, 94 percent of property registrations in September 2021 pertain to fresh sales wherein buyers have bought the property with payment of regular or higher stamp duty rate.
Buyers in the higher ticket-size segments of Rs 1 crore and above were very active during the stamp duty cut window from September 2020 to March 2021 and then reduced their activities post the roll-back of incentive. However, with improving business environment and wealth effect, this segment is witnessing higher traction in the recent period. The share of houses in Rs 1 crore and above segment has increased to 49 percent in September 2021, compared to 30 percent in April 2021 and 40 percent in June 2021, it said.
“A robust growth in property registrations in Mumbai has been recorded in the latest numbers. In addition to the improved market health, the government has also been able to improve revenue collections. The revenue level from property sales is higher than the pre-pandemic average level as buyers continued to be active despite the roll-back of the stamp duty incentive. Improved pandemic scenario and conducive factors of multi-year low property price and multi-decade low home loan interest rate have also played an instrumental role,” said Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India.
With the upcoming festival season, the market is gearing up for new project launches to benefit from this improved demand conditions. Given the prevalence of conducive demand drivers, sales momentum going forward is expected to remain strong, he added.
