Land Registration Fare Value Draft published

Updated May 13 2008

Kerala Govt Published Draft for the Fare Value assessment for all areas. Not so surprisingly, the new fare value is not much different than the current value. In simple terms this means the future buyers are not going to pay any higher tax than one would pay today. The details of specific areas are yet to be known.

The information is expected to reach the registartion office in next few weeks. The State government notified the draft containing 15-lakh pages through a Special Gazette early this week.Fair value of land has been proposed for 1,452 villages in the State.

Several aspects have been considered for determining the value. Land in each village has been divided into 15 categories fixed by taking into account factors such as commercial importance; access to National Highway, State Highway and other major roads; facilities for water supply, electricity, transport and communication; and proximity to market, bus stand, hospital and educational institutions. Fundamentally, land across the State has been categorised as dry land, wasteland, wetland and garden land. Earlier, it was classified into just wetland and garden land.

The highest priced area is M.G Road Kochi. The assessed fare value for this area is 10 lakhs / Cent. The lowest is Rs 5000. As for, when this would be in effect is not known. I do not believe that bothers any one as it is going to be pretty much same as today.

For further reading - http://www.hindu.com/pp/2008/05/10/stories/2008051050470300.htm

Register Land Purchase Agreement - Kerala New Law

To avoid black money transactions and other under the table deals, Kerala goverment is working on a new bill that would require the land transfer agreement also to be registred. Currently it is a common practice to write agreement for the actual amount of transaction and then register the land at a later time for the minimum required value mandated by the local registration office.
It seems Govt will bring this bill in the next Assembly Session. Another move along with this is to publish the revised land fare value for all most all areas. This is also expected in July.

India - global real estate invester's preferred market

According to a survey conducted by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) , India is one of the most preferred property market among foreign investors globally.

This report is from
January/February 2008 (AFIRE) news letter. India is preferred by 16.7 per cent of the respondents favoring the country as the most fancied place for real estate investments. In the survey , Although the US was named the top ranking country, China and India placed a strong second and third. Compared to 2006, China had the biggest improvement in investor’s perceptions, moving seven percentage points, while India slipped by almost two points. To be read along the lines is JP Morgan (One of the largest investment banks in US) plans to invest 1500 Crores in real estate projects in india.

You can read the full report here

Parking Spots rising costs

An interesting article about the cost of parking lots in mumbai. It seems that a parking spaces in mumbai are as expensive as a flat / apartment in cochin.. Another article about 25 floor parking planned in mumabi
It wouldnt be long before we see an article like this parking spot for $225000 or an ad like this Outdoor Parking spot for sale for cochin and other major cities in kerala.

Storage areas and parking spots in the city is a multi billion revenue business in developed countires. Parking is a big problem in most cities in kerala. It is not uncommon for people to choose a store / area to shop just for the reason that it is easy to find parking around. That 5 cent or 10 cent second plot (plot behind the roadside plot) you have, could worth much more in next 5 years.. especialy when tata nano hit the road ....

Real estate market to grow ~6.5 times by 2015: report

Indian Express Reports that Indian real estate market, growing at 30 per cent, is likely to touch $90 billion by 2015 from $14 billion at present. According to the report

IT and ITeS, banking and financial services have in particular created a huge demand for office space. IT and ITeS alone is expected to require 150 million sq ft across urban India by 2010. The year 2006-07 witnessed organised retail growing at a pace of 25-30 per cent.

Read it here

Watch Dog for Housing Builders

Real Estate fraud is booming like never before, and con artists are finding new and ingenious ways to fleece unsuspecting property investors. We have heard of so called, 'leading builders' being involved in land encroachment to real estate agents cheatings buyers.

Looks like Govt and the builders association itself is stepping up to provide some protection to the consumers (and thus protect their bussiness :) ). Every buyer has to understand that , a legal check is the non-negotiable part of purchase.

Cost of Stamp Paper and Fees : property registration

This is a sample calculation table to find how much would you need to spend , based on present property registration fees and stamp rate , when purchasing a property . This information is provided for understanding and planning purpose only. Though, the numbers provided here are based on recent registartions , it may not be accurate for every place in kerala.

At this time, the rate of stamp duty in panchayat area is
10% plus registration fee and surcharge 2 %. The total is 12%. For the registration in municipal area 12 % plus registration and surcharge fee 2 %. The total is 14 %. For registration within the Corporation area 13.5% is for registration & surcharge fee 2 %. Total is 15.5 %.

You can do your own calculation using this Excel spread sheet..
If you have a google/gmail account use this google url
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pU7ASvIyVxppYUEtlWHI_fA&hl=en
You may download the Excel spread sheet from below link
http://rapidshare.com/files/101655095/Land_Registration_Price_Calculator.xls.html

How to use this calculation to find the price for your transaction
Column B7 :- Enter the total area of land (in cents) in your transaction
Column B8 :- Enter price per cent
Column B12 :- Enter fare value per cent

The total price is shown on Column 15, depending upon if the property is located under panchayat , muncipality or corporation