Bengaluru: If the city’s real estate business took a huge hit due to the question mark over thousands of homes built on tanks and rajakaluves, today the crisis is far worse – the demonetisation of high value currency has not only left potential buyers cashless, hundreds of high-rises now remain unsold, leaving the Department of Stamps and Registration, poorer by thousands of crores in revenue.
While during the last financial year, as many as 2,17,000 properties were registered, this year that number stands at 2,08000, as of Thursday.
Department of Stamps and Registration, which had netted a revenue of Rs 2,551 crore last year, has earned Rs 100 crore less – only Rs 2,406 crore this year.
“It has been a bad year for the Department of Stamps and Registration for various reasons and demonetisation could worsen it,” said department officials.
With Bengaluru contributing hugely to the department's revenue, it's believed it may find it difficult to achieve the target set, let alone surpass it given the current currency crisis.
A clear picture is expected to emerge after next week," said officers. Upcoming apartment complexes would get advance bookings, but now there are no takers, despite huge discounts leading to non-sale of many completed projects, said industry insiders.
It's feared the currency crisis coming close on the heels of the recent demolition drive has left prospective buyers cautious, and led to a dip in registration of new properties by around 10 to 20 per cent, could worsen things for the sector. "Over 6,000 new properties were registered daily during the good times but now only around 4,000 to 4,500 are registered mainly because of people's fears over being taken for a ride by realtors. And now registration has taken a further hit this month, after the currency crunch," said an officer, adding, " If there is a further dip in registrations it will be a big blow to department and it may find it difficult to meet the target fixed by the government for 2016-17. In fact, the footfalls in the offices of sub-registrars across the city have decreased greatly, giving an indication of things to come."
