Second Covid-19 wave hits Mumbai property registrations hard

The data is for the area under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation —Churchgate to Dahisar and Colaba to Mulund.

Residential property sales in Mumbai have been badly affected by the second wave of the coronavirus infection. The city recorded upwards of 10,000 registrations in April, but 93% of these related to properties transacted between December 2020 and March 2021, for which stamp duties were paid during the lower rate window. Only 7% of these registrations related to new residential sales concluded in April, according to Knight Frank India.

The data is for the area under the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation —Churchgate to Dahisar and Colaba to Mulund.

According to Knight Frank India, the fall in momentum has been exacerbated by the second wave of Covid-19 and the ensuing lockdown. Property registrations had seen a sharp pick-up in Mumbai between September 2020 and March 2021 due to concessions on stamp duty charges in the state.

The Maharashtra government had also given a leeway of four months to homebuyers to register a property after the payment of stamp duty, in December 2020. This ensured that homebuyers who had purchased residences and paid stamp duty on or before March 31 have the maximum window of four months till July 31 from the respective date of payment of stamp duty to register their property.

Shishir Baijal, chairman and managing director, Knight Frank India, said, “The residential real estate sector had shown a healthy bounce back in the last few months backed by reduced stamp duty, contributing greatly to the state’s exchequers. In April 2021, as the government withdrew the reduction in stamp duty, coinciding with the second wave of the pandemic resulting in a virtual lockdown, demand and sales of new homes was severely impacted.”