Mumbai Real estate sales pick up on Akshaya Tritiya

Akshaya Tritiya marks an auspicious day on the calendar in India, and Mumbaikars usually celebrate by buying or investing in new things. Vehicles and real estate have been two of the city's favourite things to invest in, although last year these plunged low on the list thanks to GST. This time, however, the real estate industry claims to have witnessed a 20 to 25 per cent rise in sales compared to last year, and sales of vehicles, too, went up from 232 to 291 this year. Developers said GST on under-construction properties had discouraged home-buyers, but with the changes, there was response from buyers this season. Earlier, there were only enquiries, but this season the real estate industry saw those being converted into purchases, said developers.