Sale of land, and not flats, leads to rise in revenue

Pune: The rise in the revenue collection by the state registration department could be attributed to the higher sale of land as against flats.
A detailed study and analysis by the property registration department revealed that of the 18 lakh documents registered between April 2017 and February 2018, the largest share of sale was of land (a little over 50%) as against that of flats and apartments (30%).

The registration department has already achieved 90% of its target revenue for the current fiscal by the middle of February. The analysis revealed that the average share of land sale, which includes agriculture and residential plots, was higher than that of flats this financial year.

Stamp duty and registration charges on property transactions are the second-highest revenue source for the state government after State Goods and Services Tax.

This is the first time that the department has, ahead of the annual announcement of Ready Reckoner (RR)rates, provided figures of various sale deeds to understand the actual market sentiment.

Deputy Inspector General of Registration (information Technology) Supriya Karmarkar said this was the department’s maiden initiative to come up with a detailed break-up of each sale deed ahead of the Ready Reckoner assessment.

She said, “We analysed all documents pertaining to sale of land and flats in detail for the first time. The department had never in the past assessed documents reaching all its offices. The exercise helped us understand the total component of land sale deeds as against flats and components such as garage, godown and office. This gives a clear picture of the market.”

While the current revenue collection is higher than that of last fiscal, Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India officials attributed the 1% rise in stamp duty in the fringes to the rising number of construction.