Property registrations in the city, especially surrounding areas, dropped significantly in the last two months after the Centre gave enough hints that the Telangana state would be created for sure.
According to Official sources, property registrations dropped by 20% compared to last year and revenue also dipped in the entire state. Registration and stamps department officials assert the situation might continue for some more time till location of new state capital for the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh is finalized.
For instance, 400 registrations were done at Sub-Registrar Office (SRO), Serlingamaplly, which covers area like Manikonda, Vattinagulapally, Chandanagar, Nallagandla and Taranagar in December, 2013. However, the transactions came down to 312 in January and f knocks down further to 178 in February (up to Feb 20).
Correspondingly is the situation at the SRO, Uppal, whose jurisdiction is spread over Uppal, Medipally, Boduppal, and Peerzadiguda, where 970 registrations were recorded in December 2013, where it has come down to 832 in January and in February only 550 documents were registered.
“Until a couple of months ago, we used to register about 25-30 documents a day. However in the last one week, the number of registrations has come down to 10 per day,” D Vasudeva Reddy, SRO, Serlingampally told STOI.
At areas like LB Nagar, Shamirpet, Qutubullapur, Madhapur, Shamshsbad and Medchal the drop was noteworthy.
Asenior official of the registration and stamps department said, “There has been a lull in property registrations, especially East and West divisions of Rangareddy, which has the highest potential in the state. Since many property owners (about 80%) buy open land (plots) for investment purpose, they must have been waiting to reinvest the amount in the new capital areas.”
The official said there was a 20% shortfall in revenue compared to previous year (as on January 31, 2014). Last year (till January, 2013), the department had wiped up revenue to the tune of Rs 4,801 crore with 19 lakh registrations, but this year (January 2014) the department’s revenue was Rs 3,835 crore with 14 lakh property registrations in the entire state.
In connection with Rangareddy district, the department had earned about Rs 1,334 crore last year, whereas this year, it could earn about Rs 1,138 crore. The surrounding Nalonda and Medak districts have also registered decline in registrations.
Interestingly, not many property transactions were reported in Guntur district with tittle-tattle that the Centre might declare the areas between Guntur and Vijayawada for setting up new capital for the Seemandhra state.
As said by the official, the land owners might be waiting for the Centre’s decision and not selling away their land. “Tenali SRO jurisdiction in Guntur has recorded 42% less revenue (highest drop in the state) towards property registration compared to last year (as on January),” another official said.