Come February, city residents must expand their budget to buy their dream property.

The registration department has planned to revise the minimum value register (MVR) or circle rates from February 1, pushing up property prices in urban areas.

MVR is the base rate for fixing stamp duty of a property in a particular location. In simple words, MVR is the official price of land or apartment flats fixed by the government on which stamp duty is charged.

Rise in MVR leads to increase in registration fee one pays for getting a property registered in his/her name.

In case of Patna, the rise in MVR is in the range of 10 to 22 per cent of the existing rates.

Patna district sub-registrar Prashant Kumar said: "The MVR revision would cover urban areas in and around the state capital, including Patna Municipal Corporation, Danapur, Phulwarisharif, Maner, Bihta, Naubatpur and Masaurhi among others. (See graphic)

"The revision of MVR is being done based on a notification issued by registration department on December 16 last year. The revision of MVR is being done in all urban areas across the state."

"In case of Patna, the proposed rates were put up on public domain, including the website of Patna district administration (www.patna.bih.nic.in), seeking feedback or complaints from residents till January 22. The new rates would be made effective from February 1," said Prashant.

Sources claimed that the reason behind revision in the MVR rates is to minimise the gap between the government rate of land and the market rate, thus keeping tabs on corruption in registration and black marketeering.

However, real estate bodies in the city claimed that it leads to an adverse impact on the property market.

Sachin Chandra, the former state president of Bihar chapter of Builders Association of India, said: "The circle rate or MVR is already high at many places, which has led to fall in property sales.The buyers intending to buy flats and land would now have to shell out even more, leading to hike in the market prices as well. This, in turn, would lead to decline in demand in the real estate market of Patna because a large section of this demand is already being drained out to the real estate market in the National Capital Region near New Delhi."

The registration department made the last revision in MVR on May 15, 2013.

The increase in MVR rates in several localities in Patna was up to 300 per cent but becasue of mass protests that followed, the state government reduced the rates through another revision effected in October, 2014.

Till 2013, the revision of MVR was done on a yearly basis but through an amendment in Bihar Stamp (Prevention of Under Valuation of Instruments) Rules, 1995, the annual practice was withdrawn for urban and semi-urban areas.

The amendment also envisages the MVR revision in agricultural areas after every three years.

The revision for urban areas is now done only after prior consent from the state cabinet.

Deliberating about the perils of annual revision of MVR, a real estate expert said: "If the MVR, which is the government rate of land, is higher than the market rate, then both the buyer and seller are required to pay income tax on the difference amount. This becomes a case of double taxation and extra financial burden on both parties."