Karnataka’s retail real estate market is slowly emerging from the Covid-19 slump, going by the revenue generated from property transactions in one month of operations during the lockdown.
Officials said the government has mopped up Rs 253 crore since all sub-registrar offices, barring three, resumed registration of properties from April 24 amid various restrictions. Till May 21, a total of 68,000 documents have been registered of which 60% are related to property. The average revenue generated in the period, officials said, works out to Rs 15 crore a day. In peak season, it averages at Rs 40 crore – Rs 45 crore a day.
About 60% of the registrations are in Bengaluru and neighbouring districts, officials said. With home loan EMIs set to turn cheaper after RBI’s rate cut, the government is expecting revenue from registrations to go up to Rs 20 crore per day by May-end and Rs 25 crore in June.
“The data suggests that some buoyancy may be returning to the real estate market. We may end up collecting more revenue than the target estimated in the budget,”said KP Mohan Raj, inspector general of registrations and commissioner of stamps.
Property registration helps K’taka earn Rs 15 cr every day’
The state government has set a revenue collection target of Rs 12,655 crore in the 2020-21 fiscal year, which is about Rs 35 crore per day from stamps and registrations.
Officials said Karnataka has been doing better than its neighbours so far: “While we are netting average revenue of Rs 15 crore per day, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have been earning Rs 10 crore and Rs 6 crore, respectively. The sub-registrar offices opened at the same time as ours in these states.” Across Karnataka, 242 sub-registrar offices are functional.
“Over 70% of revenue is generated through sale of flats and plots while 30% of the documents are gift deeds or related to marriages, partition, and mortgage,” said an official of the stamps and registration department.
“The current sales after partial easing is 20% of normal. Our completed projects are seeing greater traction. Construction schedules will get affected though we are confident of maintaining RERA timelines for our projects. The impact of labourers going back is still unknown,” said Rajendra Joshi, CEO (residential) of Brigade Enterprises. “The government can help us by reducing stamp duty and allowing developers to pay only a nominal part of fees at the time of approvals.”
