Mohali, Oct. 15 -- In yet another setback for housing hopefuls, the Mohali district administration has announced a hike in collector rates for residential properties by 20% to 22%, depending on the locality, for financial year 2025-26. The revised rates will take effect from October 23. The collector rates for industrial properties have also been increased by 30%, but there will be no change in rates for commercial properties. In villages falling under the jurisdiction of the Mohali Municipal Corporation, the rates have been raised by 5% to 33%. The detailed list of new rates will be available on the official district website - www.sasnagar.nic.in. The revision will translate into higher stamp duties aswell, calculated based on the property's transaction valueor the collector rate - whichever is higher. An 8% stamp duty is levied for male buyers, 6% for female buyers and 7% for joint ownership. This marks the fourth consecutive hike in collector rates since 2021, reflecting Mohali's steady rise as a housing hub adjoining Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. In 2024-25, the rates had already gone up by 26% to 50%, following a 42% to 76% rise in 2022 and a 35% jump in 2021. With no new government or private housing projects in Chandigarh since 2016, neighbouring Mohali has been catering to much of the region's housing demand. A senior officer from the revenue department said the collector rates had been increased to bridge the gap between market prices and official land rates, generate higher revenue from property transactions and curb the circulation of black money in the real estate sector. Deputy commissioner Komal Mittal said the new rates had been rationalised after detailed consultations with stakeholders to ensure that property transactions reflected realistic market values and to facilitate smoother registration processes. However, Parveen Kansal, chairman of the Royal Estate Group, Mohali, said the revised collector rates will hit the middle class hard: "Instead of increasing the rates, the state government could have imposed a cess to boost its revenue." Shailender Anand, former chairman of the Mohali Property Consultants Association, questioned the timing of the hike. "It's not the right time to increase the rates, as the real estate market is stable," he said. Even the Chandigarh administration had hiked the collector rates from April 1, 2025, marking the first change since 2021. The administration had notified an over fourfold increase (316%) in collector rates at villages, a 128% hike for properties in Sectors 1 to 12, a 98% increase in Sectors 14 to 37, and an 82% rise in Sector 38 and beyond....