Mumbai’s registration office collected over 20 percent more revenue from stamp duty collections in July compared to June 2021 as the maximum window of four months for paying stamp duty to register apartments ends on July 31, 2021, data by the Maharashtra government’s Department of Registrations and Stamps (IGR) has said.
It collected over Rs 500 crore from stamp duty paid on properties registered in the month of July 2021 compared to Rs 420 crore in the month of June 2021. This is also up by almost 17 percent compared to the collections in July 2019 (Rs 452 crore), said an analysis by Propstack.
The Maharashtra government, in December 2020, had given a leeway of four months to homebuyers to register property after the payment of stamp duty in order to prevent crowding of registration offices. This ensured that homebuyers who had purchased residences and paid stamp duty on or before March 31, 2021, have a maximum window of four months till July 31, 2021, from the respective date of payment of stamp duty for registering their apartment.
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In March 2021, the last month of the stamp duty waiver announced by the Maharashtra government, the exchequer collected around Rs 875 crore and Rs 514 crore in April 2021. Collections were subdued in May (Rs 268 crore).
Despite the Maharashtra government deciding not to extend the stamp duty waiver on property registrations in March this year, the collections in the month of June 2021 stood at Rs 420 crore which was at 93 percent levels of June 2019 when Rs 450 crore was collected by the exchequer, an analysis by Propstack has indicated.
This data clearly indicates that homebuyers are gradually trickling back into the market as vaccination picks up and the second wave appears to be waning.
In May 2021, Rs 268 crore worth of stamp duty was collected due to the onset of the second wave. This was almost half of the collections in May 2019 (Rs 534 crore), the analysis said.
In April 2021, the stamp duty collections were 12 percent higher than April 2019. The total collections stood at Rs 514 crore in 2021 compared to Rs 460 crore in 2019. The 2020 numbers are not being considered as there was a complete lockdown due to COVID-19.
As far as registrations are concerned, more than 9,000 units were registered in the month of July 2021 compared to June 2021 when 7,851 units were registered. This was an almost 15 percent increase over last month. May 2021 saw as many as 5,360 registrations, April saw 10,136 properties getting registered and March which is when the stamp duty waiver of 3% ended saw as many as 17,728 registrations.
The number of units registered in July 2021 is up by almost 20 percent compared to numbers registered in July 2019 (7,534 units), the Propstack analysis said.
These registration numbers include the property transactions in Mumbai for which stamp duty was paid before March 2021 when the stamp duty cut ended.
It should be noted that even though the duration of lockdown in Mumbai was similar to last year, the pick-up post gradual easing of restrictions was sharper this time around compared to last year.
“The current numbers show that the market is performing better than pre-COVID months of 2019. However, from September year-on-year numbers may be lower than last year as the surge in demand for housing last year was witnessed on the back of stamp duty cut announced by the Maharashtra government on August 26, 2020,” said Sandeep Reddy, co-founder at Propstack.
Properties worth over Rs 10,600 crore were sold in Mumbai in July 2021 which was a 41 percent increase in the worth of properties sold in July 2019 (7,542 units), the Propstack analysis said.
In June 2021, homes worth Rs 8,404 crore were sold and in May 2021, houses worth Rs 5,360 crore were sold. March 2021 had witnessed the registration of units worth Rs 29,166 crore.
According to an analysis by Knight Frank India, 53 percent of registrations in July 2021 were from new residential sales concluded in the month, recording a sharp improvement compared to 42 percent in June 2021, 29 percent during May 2021 and 7 percent during April 2021. At 4,824 units (30 July 2021 till 1200 hours), the number of new apartments sold (fresh sales) during July 2021 were 45 percent higher compared to 3,300 units sold in June 2021, 207 percent higher compared to 1,554 units sold in May 2021 and 573 percent higher compared to 710 units sold during April 2021.
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While registrations in July 2021 are at a decadal high (for the month of July), it is important to note that 53 percent of registrations or 4,824 units2 were new sales which is around 84 percent of July 2019 average, implying that we are yet to cross sales of pre-COVID levels, the Knight Frank analysis said.
Three percent share of women homebuyers in new sales in July 2021, drops from 4.7 percent in June 2021:
On March 8, 2021, to celebrate International Women’s Day, the Maharashtra government announced a 1 percent rebate in stamp duty for women homebuyers effective from April 1, 2021. As a result of which women homebuyers constituted 6.6 percent of new home sales in the month of April 2021 paying a discounted stamp duty rate of 4 percent over their purchase.
In May 2021, the share of women homebuyers in May 2021 dropped to 1.7 percent. In June, the share of women homebuyers registered increased to 4.7 percent, however, it fell to 3 percent in July 2021. The concessions offered to women homebuyers must be enhanced further as the number of apartments registered in the name of women has not risen to a meaningful proportion, Knight Frank India said in its analysis.
“It is encouraging to see a strong pick-up in property registrations in the recent months, despite the impact of second wave. Property registrations have continued to grow on a monthly basis since May 2021 and have crossed the 9,000 units mark in July 2021. The registrations for July 2021, so far, have recorded highest ever numbers for the month of July in the last decade,” said Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India.
As the economy revives and the lockdown restrictions ease further, with the increase in pace of vaccinations, we expect this momentum to sustain provided we avoid third wave, he added.
