Stamp duty is a major source of revenue for the state government. On average in this financial year, the state government's treasury, received Rs 2,500 crore through registration of properties and other documents with the Department of Registration and Stamps.
In October the figures had crossed Rs 3,200 crore mark and hence, when in November the figure came down to Rs 2,700 crore there was a hullabaloo that the real estate market was negatively impacted.
However, inspector general of registration, Shravan Hardikar said, he doesn't see a dip in November, instead November performed better than the average."The average we have been seeing this year is Rs 2,500 crore per month. October did exceptionally well, and the revenue collected was Rs 3,200 crore, in November the revenue collected was Rs 2,700 crore, which is above the average collection we have seen," he said.
He said November had almost 10 holidays, including Diwali. Hence during the 20 working days, the collection of Rs 2,700 crore is a huge revenue. Last year, November had witnessed a substantial rise in registration as the state government had offered a discount on stamp duty from September 2020 to March 2021.
This prompted the developers to pass on the benefit to the home buyers, who too, rushed to buy homes. However, this year there was no such offer, yet the registration figures have surpassed the pre-pandemic days on many occasions.
When asked about the dip in registration figures in November compared to October, former president of CREDAI-MCHI, Nayan Shah said, "It's natural, it has to happen, things peak then there is a valley." The sales were less in November compared to October, and experts believe, availability of limited ready housing units and under construction not getting much traction could be a reason behind the dip. Pankaj Kapoor, MD, Liases Foras, a real estate research firm said, "I think there was a dip in sales post Diwali.
Mainly the pent up demand mostly got consumed. Besides, now there is limited ready stock available in primary as well as in the secondary market. Under construction units are still not gathering traction."
Hardikar claimed the registration figures aren't going down and predicted that in December too, the state may get revenue up to Rs 3,000 crore from registration. "Till the evening of December 16, the revenue generated was Rs 1,700 crore, by the end of this month the figure can touch up to Rs 3,000 crore," he said. While the government is hopeful that the revenue shall keep coming in, experts and developers have a different opinions.
