Property developers in Maharashtra to bear stamp duty charges

Mumbai: In a bid to give a boost the real estate market, which has been hit by covid-19, real estate developers of Maharashtra's National Real Estate Development Council (Naredco) have decided to waive off stamp duty charges on various affordable and luxury residential properties in over 1,000 housing projects, the council said today.

The developers have decided to bear the stamp duty cost.

"This decision to charge no stamp duty on housing sales will bring a new wave of home-buying in the short–run and change the demand-supply dynamics positively," said Rajan Bandelkar, president, Naredco–West, and convener, housingforall.com.

Bandelkar added that this will also result in a substantial savings and reduction in transaction costs for the end user, adding that the scheme will be applicable to the projects registered on housingforall.com portal as well.

The move comes a week after the Maharashtra government slashed stamp duty on the purchase of new houses by 3% from 1 September to 31 December 2020 and by 2% from 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021 to uplift the market sentiments.

In Maharashtra, stamp duty charges are 5% in key cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik and 6% in others.

"A majority of developers from Mumbai, MMR, Pune and Nashik have decided to waive off the stamp duty and bear the burden themselves in a bid to revive the economy. Other developers are also expected to jump the bandwagon at a later stage," said Naredco.

Real estate developers have been grappling with unsold inventory. The move is expected to boost real estate demand this festive season. The real estate sector has seen a significant decline in the first half of this calendar year in residential sales across the top seven cities while launches remained constrained on the back of bleak economic environment and muted consumer sentiment.

With economic growth expected to be under pressure in the short term, this move will bring some respite to homebuyers.

"This will give a much-needed relief to homebuyers, as there will be no stamp duty obligation any more, making home-buying attractive, faster and seamless with substantial savings," said Ashok Mohanani, president elect, Naredco– West.

Real estate is a second-largest employer in the country and a move like this would be instrumental in arresting the job losses in the country.