How much will a home cost in Bengaluru after the recent Karnataka Govt's registration fee hike?

The dream of owning a home in Bengaluru just got a little more expensive with the Karnataka government’s recent move to hike property registration charges.

While a 1% hike might just look meager, but it can significantly impact your expenses and financial planning, when it comes to buying a house, especially for the middle class.

The Karnataka government has revised its property registration charges. The registration fee for immovable properties in the state will rise from one to two per cent of the value of the property.

The state government has issued a notification for the revised registration fee effective from August 31.

"The proposed hike of the registration fee will inflate property registration costs, thereby impacting budget-conscious buyers’ financial projections for housing purchases. While the government coffers will see generous top-ups with higher property registration fees, housing sales may be impacted to some extent - particularly in the affordable housing segment," said Dr. Prashant Thakur, Executive Director & Head - Research & Advisory, ANAROCK Group.

That said, the overall impact will be minimal because both sales and new launches in this segment have been very limited in the last few years. Premium and luxury housing segment sales will largely remain unaffected as the target clientele can absorb the added costs more easily," he added.

Here is how much buyers in Bengaluru may now have to shell out for buying their dream home:

• For a property valued at ₹75 lakh, the registration fee  will be doubled from ₹75,000 (1%) to ₹1.5 Lakh (2%), resulting in a ₹75,000 hike.

• Similarly, for a property worth ₹1 crore, the fee will increase from ₹1 Lakh to ₹2 Lakh, resulting in a ₹1 Lakh hike.

Karnataka levies a stamp duty of 5% of the property's market value, 2% registration fee, 0.5% cess and 0.1% surcharge, adding up to 7.6%. The total fee payable for any property transaction is 7.6% from August 31.

Adding these charges, a Rs 75 lakh apartment in the tech city will now approximately cost ₹80.7 lakh. And ₹1 crore property will approximately cost ₹1.076 crore.

"Doubling of property registration fees (pent up demand to queue up at sub registrars office ) of late from 1% to 2% will make buyers pay hefty amounts to lock their dream homes at Bengaluru. For instance, on a regular ₹1 crore apartment, registration fees rise overnight from ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh (not to mention that this is exclusive of other taxes and government levies), making home purchase even pricier in a high-cost market," said Siddharth Maurya, Founder & Managing Director, Vibhavangal Anukulakara Pvt. Ltd.

A house price is no longer the full story, rising registration fees and government charges can add lakhs, impacting loan eligibility and overall affordability.

"Increases in registration fees as well as various other government impositions can quickly tack on lakhs to the total investment and strain even the most well-laid financial plan. Potential purchasers ought to factor in these overheads ahead of time since these changes can influence loan amounts, down payments and long-term affordability," said Aman Gupta, Director, RPS Group.

Karnataka’s combined stamp duty and registration charges before the hike were relatively lower than many states

"If we compare the combined stamp duty and registration charges in Karnataka to those in other states, it is relatively lower at about 6.6% for high-value properties before the hike, though not the absolute lowest. It offers a competitive advantage, especially when compared to some of its southern neighbours such as Tamil Nadu, where stamp duty alone is 7% and registration charges stand at 4%," said Dr. Prashant Thakur