Mumbai's April property registrations down 16% on year, 25% on month: Govt data

In April 2023, apartments measuring 500 square feet (sq ft) to 1,000 sq ft continued to be purchasers' preference, accounting for 44 percent of all sales, according to the data.

Mumbai city and suburbs reported a 16 percent year-on-year (YoY) and 25 percent month-on-month drop in property registrations in April 2023 over April 2022 and March 2023, respectively. However, the Maharashtra government collected Rs 840 crore revenue from registrations of property, the highest in the last 10 years, according to data shared by the state’s Office of Registrations and Stamps (IGR).

Of the total properties registered, 83 percent were residential and 17 percent non-residential. The 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 consultancy firm that collated the IGR data.

Why was there a dip in property registrations?

The daily average property registration in April 2023 was 352 units, making it the second-best April after April 2022. Total registrations, however, dipped in April 2023.

Total property registrations in April 2023 stood at 9,867, down 16 percent YoY. The decline was largely led by two reasons. The first was the base effect as April 2022 saw a spillover of registrations from the previous months with 17 percent of properties registered in that month having been filed in March 2022. Secondly, there was a seasonal impact as in the last 8 out of 10 years, the month of April witnessed a dip in registrations compared with the March of that year, said Knight Frank India in its report.

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Mehul R Thakkar

Special Correspondent|Moneycontrol

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“Mumbai’s home-buying appetite has remained strong despite a rise in stamp duty, consecutive rise in interest rates and a steady rise in prices in the market. In the last 10 years since April 2013, Mumbai has registered an estimated sales of 800,000 properties. Forty percent of this, which is an estimated 318,000 units, has been registered since September 2020 from the time the stamp duty stimulant was introduced," said Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing director, Knight Frank India.

He added, "Despite the stamp duty rate being elevated to a historic 6 percent high, the momentum continues thus far. Mumbai saw a registration of 128,427 properties between April 2022 and April 2023, constituting about 16 percent of all properties registered in the last 10 years."

Also read: Mumbai reports 11.53 percent YoY drop in property registrations in Q4, but sees by 28 percent MoM growth

What sells the most?

In April 2023, apartments measuring 500 square feet (sq ft) to 1,000 sq ft continued to be purchasers' preference, accounting for 44 percent of all sales. Apartments with an area below 500 sq ft saw a marginal decline in market share from 36 percent in April 2022 to 32 percent in April 2023. The share take-up for areas larger than 1,000 sq ft increased from 17 percent in April 2022 to 24 percent in April 2023.

Also read: Home loan borrowers dare rising interest rates, demand surges 42% in Mar quarter

Meanwhile, in April 2023, buying patterns in housing shifted, with apartments priced at Rs 2.5 crore and below accounting for 87 percent of registered properties compared to 84 percent in April 2022, and those in the Rs 2.5 crore and above bracket accounting for 13 percent of all registered houses compared to 16 percent in April 2022.