NEW DELHI: Last week, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar said that no final decision has been taken on whether ready reckoner rates will remain unchanged or increased.
However, the Department of Registration and Stamp Duty has proposed an average increase of 6 percent in the rates of ready reckoner (annual market value rate) in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad for the financial year 2022-23, 10 per cent in rural areas and an average increase of 5 per cent in municipal areas. If approved by the state government, the hike will be effective from next financial year (April 1). So there might be some increase in property prices if the decision is made.
Rajendra Pate, President, NAREDCO Pune said, “All the factors such as premiums, stamp duty as well as income tax rates are linked to ready reckoner rates and if it increases, it will have a cascading effect all across. It will also be difficult for the developers to hold rates for a long time resulting in high property prices as the stamp duty is set to increase, apart from increasing the overall project cost for the developers.”
Kaushal Agarwal, Chairman of The Guardians Real Estate Advisory who recently forayed into the Pune real estate market said, “The Maharashtra Government understands the current state of real estate sector which has been suppressed by a volcano of disruption resulting in sluggish market economics. The choking of liquidity, subdued demand, muted investment, and consecutive structural reforms led to system reboot. If these were not enough then the Covid-19 pandemic crisis brought real estate to a grinding halt with stoppage of construction sites, migration of labourers and travel restrictions halting sales visits. However, the sector played the role of a Samaritan by not passing the burden to home buyers.”
“Today, developers are operating on a thin margin and despite many challenges faced by developers, property prices across the segment are still rationalized because we don’t want to hurt the positive sentiments of consumers. However, if the state government decides to increase the ready reckoner rate, then it will severely affect positive sentiments of home buyers and the demand. Moreover, we feel that any legislation or regulations that negatively affect home buying sentiments must be avoided at this point of time as any such move will push the sector into negative growth,”Agarwal further added.