Buying · Money · The Propah POV
What does Bengaluru’s guidance value revision actually cost you?
Less than the change nobody is talking about. Guidance values rose 6–15% across Bengaluru urban limits in February 2026, and a further revision has been announced but not clearly gazetted. Meanwhile the registration fee doubled from 1% to 2% in August 2025 — a certain, permanent cost that most buyers are still budgeting wrong.
Two changes, and the wrong one gets the attention
Guidance value revisions make headlines because they are announced. Fee changes do not, because they are notified quietly and then simply happen.
On 31 August 2025, Karnataka raised the property registration fee from 1% of value to 2% — the first revision since 2003, applying across residential, plotted and commercial transactions. It doubled a line item on every registration in the state, and a great many buyers only discover it at the sub-registrar’s office.
Guidance value, by contrast, moves the base the duty is calculated on, and only for buyers whose declared price sits below it. For most Bengaluru buyers paying an honest market price above guidance value, a guidance revision changes nothing at all.
One change moved the rate for everybody. The other moved the floor, for some people. The one everybody is discussing is the second one.
What you actually pay in Karnataka today
| Component | Rate | Charged on |
|---|---|---|
| Stamp duty | 2% below ₹20 lakh · 3% from ₹20–45 lakh · 5% above ₹45 lakh | Higher of price or guidance value |
| Cess | 10% | Of the stamp duty, not the property |
| Surcharge | 2% urban / 3% rural | Of the stamp duty, not the property |
| Registration fee | 2% (was 1% until 31 Aug 2025) | Property value |
| GST | 5% under construction · 1% affordable · nil on ready with OC | Property value |
Note where cess and surcharge sit. They are percentages of the stamp duty, not of the property price, which is why they add roughly 0.6 percentage points rather than 12. Plenty of published guidance gets this wrong and produces alarming totals.
There is no stamp duty concession for women buyers in Karnataka. Several states offer one; this one does not, and the slab rates apply identically to men, women and joint owners.
The doubling, in rupees
A ready-to-move apartment at ₹1.2 crore inside BBMP limits, registered at price:
Under the old 1% registration fee, the same transaction cost ₹7.92 lakh. The doubling added ₹1.2 lakh to this purchase, and it scales linearly — on a ₹3 crore property it adds ₹3 lakh.
Add legal and diligence, brokerage where applicable, and GST if the property is under construction, and the gap between the sticker price and the money that actually leaves your account widens further. Our all-in cost calculator runs the current rates, including the corrected 2%.
Now the guidance value question, honestly
This is where published information conflicts, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
What appears settled: a revision took effect in February 2026, raising guidance values by roughly 6–15% within Bengaluru urban limits — with the sharper end of that range in the northern corridors around Devanahalli, Yelahanka and Hebbal, where the airport and metro investment sits — and by around 6–10% across other major urban areas in the state.
What is not settled: a further revision has been reported repeatedly through 2026, variously described as 10–15% statewide with an intended effect from 1 April 2026, and as 12–30% zone-wise announced in April. Reports through the middle of the year consistently noted that formal gazette notification was still awaited. We could not establish, at the time of writing, that this second revision has been notified.
What that means practically
- Do not budget from a news report. Guidance values are SRO-zone specific and revisions are applied unevenly across zones. A headline percentage tells you almost nothing about your street.
- Check the Kaveri portal for your specific property, on the day, before you finalise. That is the only number the sub-registrar will act on.
- Where announcements have run ahead of notification, practice on the ground can be inconsistent between sub-registrar offices until the gazette catches up. If your registration is close to a change, ask your advocate to confirm which values that SRO is currently applying.
For context on scale: the previous major revision took effect on 1 October 2023 and raised values by roughly 25–30% on average, with far steeper increases on some agricultural land. Against that, a 6–15% adjustment is a normal catch-up rather than a shock.
Why a guidance value rise may cost you nothing
Stamp duty is charged on whichever is higher: your actual sale consideration, or the guidance value. That single word does most of the work.
- If you are paying above guidance value — which is the ordinary case in most of Bengaluru — the revision does not change your duty at all. You were already paying on the higher number.
- If you are buying in a pocket where guidance value has caught up with or overtaken market price, the revision raises your duty even though your price has not moved.
- The second case is most likely in areas that were revised sharply upward while absorption slowed — parts of the northern corridor are worth checking carefully on this point.
The part that helps you, later
A higher guidance value is not purely a cost. The value at which you register becomes your documented cost of acquisition, and that reduces the capital gain when you eventually sell.
There is also a rule working in the opposite direction on the way out: where a property is sold for less than its stamp duty value, the stamp duty value can be deemed to be the sale consideration for computing the gain — and the difference can be taxed in the buyer’s hands as well. This has long sat in sections 50C and 56(2)(x); those provisions have been renumbered under the Income Tax Act 2025 and both old and new references are in circulation. The principle has not changed: a transaction recorded below guidance value is taxed as though it were not.
Do not register below guidance value
It is not a grey area and it is no longer practically possible in most cases. The Kaveri 2.0 system will not accept a registration below the applicable guidance value, and deliberately understating consideration to reduce duty is undervaluation — with penalties reported to run to several multiples of the duty avoided.
The older practice of splitting a transaction into a low registered value and a cash difference is what this system was rebuilt to stop. It also destroys your cost base, converts your future capital gain into a much larger number, and makes the property harder to sell to any buyer using a home loan.
Indicative guidance values, with a caveat
Published indicative ranges for 2026 put Indiranagar and Koramangala around ₹15,000–22,000 per square foot, Whitefield around ₹14,000–18,000, HSR Layout and BTM around ₹12,000–16,000, Devanahalli around ₹4,000–8,000 and the Anekal periphery around ₹3,000–6,000.
Treat those as orientation only. Guidance values are set by SRO zone and often by individual survey number and property type, and the spread within a single locality can be wide. The Kaveri portal figure for your exact property is the only one that governs.
What we would do
- Budget 7.5–8% of price in statutory cost on anything above ₹45 lakh, before legal, brokerage and GST. If your spreadsheet still says 6.5%, it predates August 2025.
- Pull the Kaveri guidance value before you sign, not before you register. It affects your total outlay and belongs in the negotiation, not in the surprise.
- Check both numbers — agreed price and guidance value — and calculate duty on the higher one.
- If a revision is imminent for your zone, ask what registering before it saves. Sometimes it is material; often it is a few thousand rupees and not worth compressing due diligence for.
- Never register below guidance value, whatever is suggested to you.
What this does not cover
- Guidance value revisions are zone-specific and change without wide publicity. Every figure here should be confirmed on the Kaveri portal for the specific property before you rely on it.
- Published sources conflict on whether the second 2026 revision has been gazette-notified. We have set out what we could establish and flagged what we could not.
- Rates given are for ordinary sale deeds. Gift, partition, release, lease and joint development documents are charged differently.
- Section references under the Income Tax Act 2025 renumbering are still settling; the principle described is unchanged but confirm the current numbering before citing it.
- This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Confirm your position with your advocate and a chartered accountant before transacting.
What is guidance value and why does it matter?
It is the minimum value the Karnataka government assigns to a property for registration purposes — sometimes called circle rate elsewhere in India. Stamp duty and registration are charged on whichever is higher, the guidance value or your actual sale price. If you are paying above guidance value, as most Bengaluru buyers do, a revision to it does not change what you pay.
Has Bengaluru's guidance value gone up in 2026?
Yes, in February 2026, by roughly 6–15% within Bengaluru urban limits — with the higher end in the northern corridors including Devanahalli, Yelahanka and Hebbal — and around 6–10% in other major urban areas. A further revision has been reported through 2026, described variously as 10–15% statewide or 12–30% zone-wise, but reports into mid-year said the gazette notification was still awaited. Check the Kaveri portal for the current value on your property rather than relying on any headline figure.
What are the stamp duty and registration charges in Bangalore right now?
Stamp duty is 2% below ₹20 lakh, 3% from ₹20–45 lakh and 5% above ₹45 lakh. Cess adds 10% of the stamp duty and surcharge 2% urban or 3% rural of the stamp duty. The registration fee is 2%. For a property above ₹45 lakh that comes to roughly 7.5–7.6% of value in statutory cost, before legal fees, brokerage and any GST.
Did the Karnataka registration fee really double?
Yes. It went from 1% to 2% of property value with effect from 31 August 2025, the first revision since 2003, and it applies to residential, plotted and commercial transactions alike. On a ₹1.2 crore purchase that is an extra ₹1.2 lakh; on ₹3 crore, an extra ₹3 lakh. It is the single largest change to Karnataka transaction costs in recent years and it attracted far less attention than the guidance value revisions.
What happens if I register below the guidance value?
In practice you cannot — the Kaveri 2.0 system rejects registrations below the applicable guidance value. Attempting to understate consideration is undervaluation, and penalties are reported to run to several multiples of the duty avoided. It also damages you twice over: it understates your cost of acquisition, inflating your future capital gains tax, and the difference can be brought to tax in the buyer's hands as well.
Does a higher guidance value mean my property is worth more?
No. Guidance value is an administrative floor for taxation, not a valuation. It tends to lag the market in fast-appreciating areas and can sit above achievable prices in slow ones. Banks lend against their own valuation, and buyers pay what the market supports. Treat a revision as a change to your transaction cost, not as news about your asset.
How do I check the guidance value for a specific property?
Through the Karnataka Department of Stamps and Registration's Kaveri portal, which lets you look up the value by district, taluk, hobli and village or by SRO zone and street. Values are set at a granular level and can differ sharply within one locality, so look up the exact property rather than the area. Check it on the day you finalise, since revisions take effect without much notice.
Should I rush to register before the next revision?
Only if the arithmetic justifies it. Work out the duty on the current value and on the announced one; if the difference is a few thousand rupees, it is not worth compressing your title diligence to save. If you are buying in a corridor facing a double-digit revision on a large ticket, the saving can be real — but a defective title costs far more than a duty increase.
Rates and revision details checked across multiple published sources in September 2026. The registration fee increase from 1% to 2% with effect from 31 August 2025 is corroborated consistently. Accounts of the 2026 guidance value revisions conflict — the February 2026 revision of roughly 6–15% in Bengaluru urban limits is widely reported as in effect, while a further announced revision was still reported as awaiting gazette notification through mid-2026; we have not been able to confirm its status and have said so rather than pick a figure. Guidance values are SRO-zone specific and the indicative ranges quoted are orientation only. Verify on the Kaveri portal for your property before you budget. This is general information and not legal or tax advice.
Still deciding, or want this applied to your own situation?
Tell us where you are and we will come back to you. The first conversation is free, and we will tell you plainly if we are not the right people for it.
Next
Budget 7.5–8%, not 6.5%.
The registration fee doubled in August 2025 and most spreadsheets never caught up. Check yours before you agree a price.
Open the calculator