Buyer’s guide
What a flat actually costs
The number on the brochure is not the number that leaves your account. Here is everything that sits on top of it, and why an under-construction home and a ready one cannot be compared on sticker price.
Stamp duty
A state tax on the transaction, paid by the buyer. In Pune, as of September 2026, it works out to around 7% of the agreement value for most buyers — a 5% base rate plus a 1% metro cess and a 1% local body tax, the last of which is why Pune sits above Mumbai.
Where the property is registered in a woman’s sole name, a 1% concession applies, taking it to roughly 6%. Joint ownership with a male co-owner is charged at the standard rate, and the concession is for residential property only.
One trap worth knowing: stamp duty is charged on the agreement value or the government’s ready reckoner value, whichever is higher. If you negotiate a price below the reckoner rate, you still pay duty on the reckoner figure.
Rates change with the state budget. Confirm the current figure, and use the official calculator, at igrmaharashtra.gov.in before you budget on it.
Registration charges
Separate from stamp duty and far smaller. As of September 2026 it is 1% of the property value up to ₹30 lakh, and a flat ₹30,000 above that. For any home in this segment, assume ₹30,000.
GST, and why it decides more than people expect
This is the one that makes two homes with the same price genuinely different purchases.
Under construction: 5% GST on the agreement value for most residential property, with no input tax credit. For qualifying affordable housing it drops to 1%, but that band requires both a carpet area limit and a price ceiling of ₹45 lakh, so a premium 3 BHK will not be in it.
Ready to move, with an Occupancy Certificate: no GST at all. Stamp duty and registration still apply.
So a ready flat and an under-construction flat advertised at the same price are not the same price. The under-construction one carries roughly 5% more before you have counted anything else. That is not an argument against buying under construction — there are good reasons to, and we have written about what you are taking on when you do — but it belongs in the comparison.
The ones nobody mentions until the cost sheet arrives
These vary by project and none of them are standard, which is exactly why they should be asked about early rather than discovered late.
Parking. Floor rise, charged per floor as you go up. Club or amenity membership, sometimes one-time and sometimes annual. A maintenance deposit, often one or two years collected in advance. Electricity and water connection charges. Society formation and legal documentation. Then the costs that are yours alone — interiors, appliances and moving — which routinely run to more than people plan for.
What this adds up to, illustrated
Take a hypothetical under-construction home at an agreement value of ₹1 crore. This is an illustration only and not the price of any project we represent.
- Stamp duty7%, standard rate₹7,00,000
- Registrationflat, above ₹30 lakh₹30,000
- GST5%, under construction₹5,00,000
- Before any other charge₹12,30,000
Illustration using rates current in September 2026. Parking, floor rise, club charges, maintenance deposit, connections and interiors are additional and vary by project.
Roughly 12% on top before the extras. On a home at this level that is the difference between a budget that works and one that does not, and it is the single most common thing first-time buyers leave out.
The one thing to ask for
Ask any developer or agent for the all-inclusive cost sheet, in writing: agreement value, stamp duty, registration, GST and every other charge itemised, with a total at the bottom.
Borrowing for it? EMI on a ₹1 crore home loan works out the monthly cost at every common rate and tenure, and what a bank needs from you first.
A project that can produce that in an afternoon is being straight with you. A project that cannot, or will only discuss it in a room, is telling you something. It is the same principle as reading the MahaRERA filing yourself and insisting on carpet area in writing: get the number that is going to be true later, now.
Questions we have not answered here?
Ask us directly. We would rather talk you out of the wrong home than into it.