After stamp duty cut, Bollywood stars make the most of cheap home loans

Devgn has bought a 474.4 square meters bungalow in Mumbai’s Juhu, the address of the rich and the famous, for Rs 47.5 crore for which he took a loan of Rs 18.75 crore, documents made available by Zapkey.com show.

The plot is part of the Kapole Cooperative Housing Society, which transferred the bungalow in the joint name of Veena Virendra Devgn and Vishal Virendra Devgn alias Ajay Devgn on May 7. The bungalow was sold by one Bhavesh Balkrishna Walia.

The bungalow, which has a carpet area of around 6,500 sq ft, was bought on December 29, 2020, and the loan was taken on April 27, 2021, the documents show.

The actor paid a stamp duty of Rs 2.37 crore on the deal. This is a transfer deed, as the property was transferred from one cooperative housing member to the other, and not a sale, the documents indicate.

The stamp duty paid on the transfer is at the rate of 5 percent, higher than what could have been for a sale since the Maharashtra government did not give a waiver on transfer charges.

Also read: Last day of stamp duty cut: 17,091 property registrations in Mumbai so far, numbers may touch 95% of December figure

To shore up the real-estate market hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Maharashtra government on August 26, 2020 temporarily reduced stamp duty on housing units from 5 percent to 2 percent until December 31, 2020. The levy from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021 was 3 percent. Regular rate of 5 percent kicked in from April 1 onwards.

Also read: Mumbai's rush for premium flats continues with Rs 64.48 crore Tardeo deal

A 'triplex' for Janhvi

Like Devgn, Janhvi Kapoor, too, bought a property worth Rs 39 crore in Juhu in 2020, taking advantage of the cut in stamp duty.

The 23-year-old actor, who is the daughter of the late superstar Sridevi and film producer Boney Kapoor, also took a loan of Rs 23 crore to buy the property, registration and loan documents reviewed by Moneycontrol show.

The carpet area of the so-called triplex, spread across the 14th, 15th and 16th floors of the Araya Building, is 3,456 sq ft, according to the documents accessed by Zapkey.com.

The "triplex" is part of the Hatkesh CHSL Cooperative Society in Juhu Vile Parle Development Scheme in Vile Parle West. It comes with six car parking spaces.

Also read: Mumbai’s ultra-rich rush to register luxury houses as deadline for Maharashtra’s stamp duty cut nears

"Actors buy properties both as an investment and for self-use. They often end up buying bigger units depending on their social stature and go in for a bigger loan for it," Ritesh Mehta, senior director and head-West India, Residential Services, JLL India, said.

Data accessed by Zapkey.com shows several actors took a loan for purchasing properties when they were just starting.

Alia Bhatt, who has risen to be one of the leading actors among the young crop, bought an apartment worth Rs 9 crore in Juhu in 2015 for which she took a loan of Rs 7.5 crore.

In 2014, Priyanka Chopra bought two apartments using a loan of Rs 3.8 crore. Ranveer Singh took a Rs 7-crore loan in 2015 when he bought two properties worth Rs 9.3 crore.

Most Bollywood stars received a mix of upfront and staggered payments for their films, one of the reasons they take loans and close them as soon as the payment comes through, Mehta added.