Home buyers in high value zones likely to be impacted by 10% hike in Ready Reckoner rates

MUMBAI: The Ready Reckoner (RR) rates of high value zones in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) for 2025-26 will see a revision of between 5 to 10 per cent from April 1, the inspector general of registration (IGR) Ravindra Binwade told the Hindustan Times.

The rates will be imposed depending on the high value or volume of registrations in particular zones. While revenue minister Chandrasekhar Bawankule had recently hinted at the 10 per cent hike, Binwade said “the new rates have been worked out after surveying all the zones and districts”.

Some of the high value or volume zones in MMR include pockets of Borivali, Kandivali, Malad, Goregaon, Mulund, Bandra, Juhu, Walkeshwar, Napean Sea Road, Worli, Prabhadevi, Mahalaxmi, Ghatkopar, Powai, Navi Mumbai, Thane among others.

The move is likely to affect homebuyers and also increase prices of commercial office space and retail real estate.

Abhishek Kiran Gupta, CEO, CRE Matrix and IndexTap, said the revision will “only further put a stress on the real estate market, which is already showing signs of a slowdown, thanks to the slowdown in the stock market”. He added, builders are also anxious with “large stocks of oversupply in Mumbai’s residential market because of redevelopment”.

Agreeing with Gupta, Chintan Sheth, chairman and managing director, Sheth Realty, added, as the real estate market was in a slump began from the first quarter of 2024-2025, “there is really not much scope for us to pass on the RR hike to the customer”. He said, “Doing so will impact our sales and customers’ sentiment.”

Parthh K Mehta, chairman and managing director, Paradigm Realty, on the other hand, felt the revision will impact sales “as developers will have no option but to eventually transfer this burden to home buyers and customers”.

The first reaction to the impending hike has already trickled down to stamp duty registration offices in Mumbai, with developers and home buyers thronging to submit their documents by March 31, before the hike kicks in. Grishma Savla, a partner at Integrated Real Estate Advisors, observed that it also helps that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) building proposal department will continue to function through the weekend, “for builders seeking approvals for projects during the auspicious occasions of Gudi Padwa and Eid and before the new hike is implemented”.

Meanwhile, Binwade added, though the RR rates have not been revised since the last three years, the target collection of ₹55,000 crore set by the government for the year 2024-25 has been achieved. “We have exceeded the target through March 2025 by collecting ₹55,102 crore by way of stamp duty registrations. Now the government has set a new target of ₹60,000 crore and more for the year 2025-26, which is likely to be achieved with the new revision of RR rates,” he said.