The State government’s decision to revise the market value of land from August 1 has come at the most inopportune time for the realty sector in Prakasam district.
The sector is yet to come to terms with the new GST regime, which had resulted in an additional burden of ₹ 2 lakh to ₹4 lakh on apartments. Demonetisation in November last had dealt a severe blow to the sector which had been witnessing a downward trend ever-since Donakonda in Prakasam district had lost to Thullur in location of the State capital.
The number of property deals has come down by 50% in the last two years and the hike in the market value will further affect the number of registrations by at least another 10%, feels Ongole Town Development Committee (ODC) president M. Subba Rao.
The Sub-Registrar office here, which was abuzz on Monday with a good number of property buyers to complete the registration formalities, wore a deserted work on Tuesday.
Those who purchase flats and land for investment purpose go for a written agreement, avoiding registration of the documents of late. These types of transactions will go up in the coming days, upsetting the government’s calculation to improve revenue after hiking the market value of land, adds ODC secretary Bakta Singh Raju.
