States’ notional stamp duty loss Rs 1,200 cr in Q3

Kolkata, Jan 11 (IANS) With the drop in sales volume in residential markets due to demonetisation, some states suffered an estimated notional loss of Rs 1,200 crore on account of stamp duty in the last quarter of 2016, property consultant company Knight Frank said on Wednesday.

"The drop in sales volume during October-December quarter of 2016 due to demonetisation resulted in a notional revenue loss of more than Rs 22,600 crore to the real estate industry across top eight cities," a report from the company stated.

"If the government had not taken the demonetisation move, the residential market would not have suffered the revenue loss. The notional loss to various state governments on stamp duty collection has been in excess of Rs 1,200 crore in the last quarter of 2016," said the company's Chief Economist and National Director of Research Samantak Das.

The research firm's report, which covered the markets of Mumbai, NCR, Bengaluru, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, said the sales volume dropped by 44 per cent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2016 and new projects fell by a 61 per cent year-on-year during the same period.

"The Indian government's demonetisation move on November 8 brought the market to a complete standstill. The fourth quarter (October-December of calendar year) numbers are a testament to the effect that the demonetisation move has had on the real estate market of the country that was barely recovering from its earlier sloth," said the report released here on Wednesday.

"The drop in sales was more due to consumers' sentiment. Consumers expected prices could come down, home loan rates would also be cut after demonetisation," Das said.

Sales volume in the top eight cities has dropped by 9 per cent in 2016 to 244,680 units from 267,960 units sold in 2015, the report said.