Damani, Big B, Raheja: Ultra-rich go realty shopping in Maharashtra

The pandemic notwithstanding, Bollywood A listers to business tycoons and CXOs — the ultra-rich — have made use of stamp duty cuts available till March 31 in Maharashtra this year and bought luxury properties.
 
The prolonged work from home (WFH) and softness in prices also added to the frenzy, said analysts and consultants in real estate.
 
Big-ticket properties worth Rs 2,269 crore have been bought by bigwigs of Hindi cinema like Amitabh Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan, stock market icon RK Damani and the Raheja family, among others, in the county's financial capital. This is owing mainly to the stamp duty cut, according to Zapkey, a data analytics firm.

 

The biggest among them was a Rs 1,001-crore property bought by Damani along with his brother in Malabar Hill, home to billionaire industrialists such as Mukesh Ambani, Kumar Mangalam Birla, and Ajay Piramal, among others.
 
Other Bollywood celebrities who bought properties include Ajay Devgan and Sunny Leone. There are also those from the corporate and banking world, including Keki Mistry, the Raheja family, the Motilal Oswal Family Trust, Smita Parekh (wife of Deepak Parekh) and so on.
 
South-central Mumbai localities (Worli, Prabhadevi, Mahalaxmi, Tardeo and Lower Parel, among others) have seen a significant uptick in demand since the pandemic, said Anarock Property Consultants.

 
The state government cut stamp duty to three per cent from five per cent up to December 31 last year and to two per cent up to March 31 this year in an effort to boost real estate in the state.
 
“The luxury market moved from a Test match to a T20 during the pandemic, driven by two reasons — one being stamp duty cuts by the Maharashtra government. Also, the work-from-home culture drove the need to upgrade to larger homes with gardens and decks," said Sandeep Reddy, co-founder of Zapkey.
 
According to Anarock Research, Mumbai saw total housing sales of nearly 25,700 units in Q4 of 2020 and Q1 of 2021 put together (October 2020-March 2021). Of this, the share of luxury homes priced over Rs 2.5 crore was about 8 per cent. In the corresponding period a year ago — between October 2019 and March 2020 — the city saw total sales of nearly 21,550 units. Of this, 6 per cent was in the luxury category.

 
“One reason why luxury sales held on even during the pandemic was because of cut in stamp duty charges by the government," said Anuj Puri, chairman of Anarock Property Consultants.
 
In some cases, the stamp duty saved was huge. For instance, RK Damani saved Rs 20 crore on stamp duty as he registered the property on March 31 this year when the stamp duty applicable was three per cent as against five per cent now.
 
“At such steep ticket prices, even high net worth investors are not impervious to potential savings. The stamp duty cut alone helps buyers save at least Rs 12 lakh on a property worth Rs 4 crore, and the saving increases in tandem with the average property cost. The pandemic impact on this clientele is seen to be minimal, with buyers largely scouting for marquee properties, both new and old,” said Puri.

 
Softening of prices
 
Analysts said thanks to Covid-19 and the overall poor market sentiment, developers were offering schemes, discounts and freebies to attract buyers, and therefore, there was price rationalisation.
 
"The price rationalisation was more prominent in luxury units compared to affordable housing," said Abhishek Kiran Gupta, chief executive officer (CEO) and co-founder of CRE Matrix, a data analytics firm focused on real estate.
 
He said prices have softened between 10 and 12 per cent this year compared to early last year or 2019.
 
Gupta said the primary market witnessed greater benefit or sales than the secondary market as developers could advertise more, connect better through brokers and moderate prices.

 
"Secondary market reacts slower than the primary market as the sellers are individuals. Also, during Covid, many families were not ready to visit homes where people were already staying (secondary market) compared to new apartments where no one stays (primary market)," he said.