Cash crackdown slows home sales in Telangana

Hyderabad: The upcoming assembly elections in Telangana have badly affected the real estate transactions in Hyderabad and across the State during November, 2023. As per the recent data from Telangana Registration and Stamps Department, nearly 44,408 property documents were registered in the first two weeks of this month against 56,063 documents registered in the same period in the previous year.

More than 6,000 property documents were registered daily in November last year. However, nearly 4,000 documents are being registered in a day during this month. According to the officials of Telangana Registration and Stamps Department, the number of registrations is expected to come down drastically in the next week as the elections are much closer.

The restrictions over carrying cash and post-election dilemma have put a halt on the residential sales across Hyderabad and other cities of the State. The police department officials are conducting extensive searches in and around Hyderabad. They are seizing any unexplained cash above Rs 50,000 and releasing only after it is proven that it has nothing to do with the elections.

If the seized amount from any individual is above Rs 10 lakh, it will be referred to the Income Tax Department for inquiry. Afraid of cash seizure and further probe, many investors and individual home buyers have paused their property purchase decisions. In a few sub registrar offices, not even one document was registered on Monday.

“All builders in the State are not accepting 100 per cent in white money. Even today, the C-class builders consider only cash payments. Most of the individual property buyers buy from the C-class builders due to comparatively lesser prices. Obviously, the end-user market has come down about 60 per cent this month with the confiscation of unaccounted cash,” said InfoPropertiez Managing Director Rajesh M.

Actually, this is a regular phenomenon before elections in the State. The realtors already have the experience of this off-season. Some of them have gone on holiday to international tourist destinations. Knowing about the dull sales in the polling time, a reputed city-based builder has arranged the marriage of his daughter during this month.

“The investors will definitely stop buying the properties before and after elections just for some period. They will wait and watch during this time owing to political dilemma,” Telangana Builders Federation (TBF) President C Prabhakar Rao said, adding that it would not last for more than six months whether the same BRS party will come to power or a new party.

Predicting the future of the real estate sector in the State, B Sunil Chandra Reddy, President of the National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) Telangana, said: “Along with the robust infrastructure, Hyderabad has all the factors required for the growth of the real estate sector. Whichever party will form the government, the city expansion will continue as it has developed in the last 7-8 years.”