Mumbai’s May property registrations down 3 percent on year, 9 percent on month: Maharashtra data

In May 2023, apartments measuring 500 square feet (sq.ft.) to 1,000 sq.ft. continued to be purchasers' preference, accounting for 41 percent of all apartments.

Mumbai city and its suburbs reported a 3 percent Year-on-Year (YoY) and 9 percent Month-on-Month drop in property registrations in May 2023. The data is as of 12 noon on May 31.

The Maharashtra government collected Rs 811 crore of revenue from registrations of property, according to data shared by the state’s Office of Registrations and Stamps (IGR).

Of the total properties registered, 84 percent were residential and 16 percent non-residential. Growth in revenue was on account of an increase in stamp duty and a surge in higher-value property transactions, according to Knight Frank India, the real estate consulting firm that collated the IGR data.

According to Knight Frank, the daily average property registration in May 2023 was 308 units, making it the second-best May in 10 years after May 2022.

While overall registrations dipped in May 2023, the strength in the daily sales rate with over 308 units registered per day and rising revenue clearly reaffirmed the robustness of Mumbai property market.

“The Mumbai residential market maintains its growth momentum with more than 300 properties being registered daily indicating that the demand, especially for residential, continues despite the change in stamp duty, rise in interest rates and other impediments. Further, if we analyse this demand, buyers are willing to pay a significantly higher price towards homes in the last one year due to these changes as compared to September 2020, when stamp duty rebates were introduced, which can be dubbed as a turning point for residential markets in Mumbai," Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director of Knight Frank India, said.

He added: "Since then, we have seen the demand remain steady with spikes due to interventions like withdrawal of stamp duty rebate in March 2021 or introduction of 1 percent cess on stamp duty. We expect demand to remain robust, factors influencing buying decisions, especially home loan rates, are expected to remain steady as consumer inflation is fast coming down.”

In May 2023, apartments measuring 500 square feet (sq.ft.) to 1,000 sq.ft. continued to be purchasers' preference, accounting for 41 percent of all apartments.

Share of sale of apartments with less than 500 sq.ft. remained stable at 35 percent in May. The share of take-up for areas larger than 1,000 sq. ft. increased from 18 percent in May 2022 to 24 percent in May 2023, according to Knight Frank India.

According to the data, property in the Rs 1 crore bracket had a 48 percent share in the property registrations followed by 37 percent in the Rs 1 crore to Rs 2.5 crore range.

The majority of the properties registered in the month of May 2023 were located in western suburbs constituting 58 percent of the market in May 2023; 26 percent of registrations were for properties in Central Suburbs. In May, 6 percent of registrations were for Central Mumbai, while South Mumbai’s share of total property registrations stood at 10 percent.