Property registrations suffer a hit in the backdrop of COVID-19

The COVID-19 crisis has taken a severe toll on the property registrations across States. While Gujarat bore a loss of Rs 1,300 crore due to the negligible real estate transactions amid the lockdown, Karnataka declared a decline in the revenue collections to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore.

File photo
File photo

The COVID-19 led lockdown has not only affected the real estate transactions across States, but property registrations have also suffered a setback. Gujarat recorded a loss of Rs 1,300 crore in the stamp duty, and registration charges due to the negligible real estate transactions and Karnataka declared a shortfall of Rs 1,000 crore in the revenue collections between March 24, 2020, and April 25, 2020.

The Karnataka government reopened 230 sub-registrar offices, of the total 252 after a break of 30 days. However, no property registrations were recorded on the first day except a few mortgage deals and lease executions. According to a sub-registrar, people have been reluctant to visit offices due to the virus.

Property registration is an important revenue source for the State government. According to R Ashoka, Revenue Minister, Karnataka, “Every month, the department collects Rs 800-1,000 crore on an average. However, due to the one-month lockdown, it has incurred a loss of around Rs 1,000 crore. The revenue target for 2020-21 is Rs 14,500 crore.”

The number of property registrations in Gujarat also registered a dip from 1.20 lakh in March 2019 to 78,584 in March 2020. This impacted the overall collections.

https://www.99acres.com/articles/property-registrations-suffer-a-hit-in-the-backdrop-of-covid-19-nid.html