Purchasing real estate in Mumbai may be a costlier proposition for homebuyers with the Maharashtra Government passing the bill for 1% surcharge on gifting/buying/mortgaging apartments within Mumbai limits in the State Assembly. This move may lead to apartments becoming costlier in the near future. This indicates that stamp duty of 5% will now increase to 6% if you wish to purchase property in Mumbai. However, the surcharge will not impact rental agreements.
The Mumbai Municipal Corporation Amendment Act of 2018 is aimed at ensuring that rental transaction driven stamp duty revenues are harnessed towards various urban transportation projects including the monorail, metro railway network, freeways, bus rapid transportation system and sea link construction among others. Roughly Rs. 1, 000 crore is expected to be collected from this surcharge annually.
However, real estate buyers and developers are still optimistic about the prospects of realty in the future for the MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) which has witnessed a steady recovery in recent times. Some builders have lobbied the Government about the decision which would impact both buyers and developers since budgets will increase. Total taxation would go up to 19% due to this surcharge, namely 1% in registration charges, 5% in stamp duties and 12% in GST along with the extra 1%.
Some feel that the State government should also involve citizens in decision making when it comes to urban transport projects so that these turn out to be mutually beneficial and not loss-making in case they are imposing surcharge on property transactions. Some of the residential projects that are popular in Mumbai include Rustomjee Avenue D1, Shapoorji Pallonji Joyville and Godrej Golf Meadows.
