Maharashtra Property Tax Waiver for Affordable Segment a Great Boost

Perspective by Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director Knight Frank India on Maharashtra's Chief Minister completely waiving in the property tax on residential properties measuring 500sq ft. in Mumbai. From the consumers’ perspectives, the waiver of property tax for affordable segment will be a great boost to sentiments for end users in the category as the waiver will reduce ongoing expenses towards owning a house and help add to their annual household savings. This decision, which was in deliberation for quite some time now, will provide big relief. For BMC, the property tax waiver will have an impact on the revenues. However, this delta will be covered by the real estate market bounce back with mid to higher end segment apartments sales increasing consistently in the last five quarters. The discounted stamp duty in regime in 2020 – 21 brought the buyers back into the market and in 2021 the transaction volume of 1,12,000 apartments in the BMC area clocked a decadal best, and was 40% higher than pre - covid numbers, leading to a rise in revenues for the city. We expect the bullish trend in the property purchases to continue in the New Year.