The full cost of a flat in Bangalore

The price on a brochure is the price of the flat. It is not the price of buying it. Between the number a salesperson quotes and the day you collect the keys sit a tax on every instalment, a duty to the state, a registration fee, a list of charges the builder sets for itself, and whatever your bank charges to lend you the rest.

None of it is hidden, exactly. It is just never in one place. This guide puts it in one place: every charge a Bangalore buyer should expect, what it is, who sets it, whether it can be negotiated and when it falls due, worked through on a single ₹1 Cr flat so the numbers add up to something you can plan around.

The short answer for that flat is ₹18.85 lakh on top of the price, or about 19% more. Your number will differ, because some of these charges are percentages of the price and some are whatever your builder decides. The rest of this guide shows you how to work out your own.

Three kinds of cost

Every charge on top of the price comes from one of three places, and knowing which matters more than the amounts, because it tells you which ones you can do anything about.

• Set by law. GST, stamp duty with the cess and surcharge on it, and the registration fee. These are percentages written into law. No builder can discount them and no salesperson can make them go away, although the value they are charged on can move.
• Set by the builder. Clubhouse membership, utility connection charges, advance maintenance, the corpus fund, legal fees and the rest. These are the builder’s own numbers. Some are fair, some are padding, and Karnataka’s model agreement for sale says several of them belong inside the price already.
• Set by your bank. Processing and legal fees on the home loan, and the interest you pay while the flat is being built. Banks compete on these, so they are the easiest to bring down by shopping around.

The builder’s figures in the worked example are illustrative, because no official source publishes typical amounts and every project sets its own. The rates set by law are the ones in force today, and they are the same for every flat in the city.

GST: 5%, or nothing

GST applies to a flat bought while it is under construction. The rate depends on whether the home counts as affordable housing.

• Most flats: 5% of the price. Strictly, the rate is 7.5% on two-thirds of the value, because one-third is deemed to be land, which works out to 5% of the whole. The builder cannot claim input tax credit at this rate, so it is not something they can absorb on your behalf.
• Affordable homes: 1%. In Bengaluru a flat qualifies only if its carpet area is 60 square metres (about 646 sq ft) or less and its gross price is ₹45 lakh or less. It has to pass both tests. The ₹45 lakh includes parking, preferential location and development charges, so extras can tip a flat over the line.

GST is charged on each instalment as you pay it, not in one lump at the end. And it reaches further than the base price: charges the builder collects as part of the purchase, such as preferential location, parking, development and clubhouse charges, take the flat’s rate too. In the worked example that puts GST on the clubhouse and connection charges as well, which is why the GST line is ₹5.15 lakh rather than exactly 5% of the price.

That second tile carries a condition that catches people out. A ready-to-move flat escapes GST only if all of the money changes hands after completion. Pay a booking amount before the certificate is issued and the sale is taxable. If you are buying a nearly finished flat partly to save GST, have the completion certificate in your hand before you pay anything.

Maintenance is taxed separately, and later, as our guide to maintenance and the corpus fund explains. Once a residents’ welfare association runs the building, it can collect up to ₹7,500 per flat per month without GST. Above that, if the association’s turnover is more than ₹20 lakh a year, 18% GST applies to the whole amount, not just the part above ₹7,500.

Stamp duty and registration

These are paid to the state when the sale deed is registered, usually just before possession. For most flats in Bengaluru they add up to 7.6% of the flat’s value, in four parts:

The surcharge is 2% of the duty within the Greater Bengaluru area and other municipal areas, and 3% in panchayat areas. The registration fee rose from 1% to 2% on 31 August 2025.

The value it is charged on is the price in your sale deed or the government’s guidance value for the property, whichever is higher. A sub-registrar can refer a deed that looks undervalued. Guidance values change from time to time, and a revision raises the duty even when your price stays the same, so check the current figure for your property on the Kaveri portal before you register.

A first sale below ₹45 lakh pays less

When a builder sells a new flat for the first time, Karnataka charges lower stamp duty at the bottom of the market: 2% up to ₹20 lakh, 3% up to ₹45 lakh, and 5% above that. The 5% then applies to the whole value, not just the part above ₹45 lakh, so the step is a cliff rather than a slope.

Cross ₹45 lakh by a rupee and the state’s charges rise by about ₹1.01 lakh. If a flat is priced just above the line, it is worth knowing before a car park or floor rise is added to it. The lower rates apply only to a builder’s first sale of a flat; a resale pays 5% whatever its value.

The agreement is stamped too

Under RERA a builder cannot take more than 10% of the price until you have signed and registered an agreement for sale, so an under-construction flat is registered twice: the agreement near the start, and the sale deed at the end. Since February 2024, an agreement for sale that does not hand over possession carries stamp duty of 0.5% of the value, ₹50,000 on the worked example, plus a registration fee of its own. Ask your builder or your lawyer for both figures before the appointment, and whether the duty paid on the agreement is adjusted against the sale deed.

One arrangement no longer saves anything. Some purchases are documented as a sale of your undivided share of the land plus a separate construction agreement. For stamp duty on the sale deed, the law charges the value of the finished flat whatever stage the building has reached, so splitting the paperwork does not split the duty.

Both registrations run through Kaveri 2.0, the state’s online registration system (our registration-day guide walks through it). You enter the deed details online, pay the duty and fee once they have been checked, book a slot, and then attend the sub-registrar’s office in person.

What the builder adds

This is the part of the bill that varies most from project to project, and the part you have the most say over. The lines you are likely to see on a Bangalore cost sheet:

• Car parking. RERA treats open parking as a common area, shared by every owner, so it cannot be sold to you as a unit of its own. A garage, which the Act defines as a space with a roof and walls on three sides, can be, and Karnataka’s model agreement has a separate price line for it. Know which one you are paying for.
• Floor rise and preferential location. A premium for higher floors, corner units or a better view. It is part of the flat’s price, so GST, stamp duty and registration apply to it as well.
• Clubhouse membership. A one-time charge for the amenities. Ask whether it is already inside the price.
• Electricity and water connections. The cost of connecting the building to the grid and the water supply, passed on to buyers. For a large complex BESCOM requires the builder to install the transformer and cabling at its own cost, and BWSSB charges application, deposit, meter and pro-rata fees. Neither publishes a per-flat figure, so ask the builder to show the working.
• Advance maintenance. Maintenance for a stated number of months, collected at possession.
• Corpus or sinking fund. A one-time deposit for major repairs in later years. It is the residents’ money, held for their association; ask how it is held and when it will be handed over.
• Legal and documentation charges. For preparing the agreement and the sale deed. A lawyer of your own is separate, and worth the fee.

The same agreement protects the area you pay for. If the carpet area delivered turns out smaller than agreed, the builder has to refund the difference within 60 days, with interest at the rate in the Karnataka RERA Rules: State Bank of India’s highest lending rate plus 2%. If it is larger, the builder can charge for no more than 3% extra, at the same rate per square foot. That is one more reason to compare prices per carpet foot, as our guide to carpet area and super built-up explains.

What your bank adds

A home loan brings costs of its own, and a few RBI rules that decide how much cash you need on the day.

• The loan won’t cover the duties. Banks can lend at most 90% of a home’s value on a loan of up to ₹30 lakh, 80% on a loan of up to ₹75 lakh, and 75% on anything larger. RBI also bars them from counting stamp duty, registration and documentation charges in the value unless the home costs ₹10 lakh or less. In practice, the state’s charges come out of your own pocket, on top of your down payment.
• Processing, legal and valuation fees. RBI sets no cap, but every fee has to be disclosed upfront in the loan’s Key Facts Statement. Compare them across banks before you sign. The worked example assumes 0.5% of the loan.
• Stamp duty on the mortgage. Depositing your title deeds with the bank as security is itself stamped: 0.5% of the loan in Karnataka since February 2024, with no upper limit. On a ₹75 lakh loan that is ₹37,500.
• Interest before the keys. On an under-construction flat the bank releases money in stages as the building progresses, and you pay interest on what has been released. Banks call this pre-EMI. It is real money that no cost sheet shows, and it runs for as long as the build does.
• No penalty for paying early. On a floating-rate home loan to an individual, banks cannot charge for part or full prepayment, whatever the source of the money and with no lock-in period.

Be careful with schemes where the builder pays your EMIs during construction, often sold as 80:20 or 75:25 plans. RBI requires disbursement to follow the stages of construction, and has warned that these tie-ups leave the borrower exposed if the builder stops paying or the project stalls. The EMI is still yours.

When each cost falls due

The total matters, but so does the timing, because each stage needs cash in hand and some of it cannot be borrowed. Here is when each charge in the worked example is paid.

The two heaviest moments are the start and the end. The booking amount and the agreement come before most of the loan, and the sale deed brings stamp duty, registration and the builder’s possession charges all at once. Plan your savings around those two dates rather than around the monthly instalment.

The cost sheet, line by line

Here is every charge in the worked example on one sheet: what it is, who sets it, whether you can negotiate it and when it is paid. Ask your builder for the same thing, dated and in writing, before you pay the booking amount.

What the cost sheet leaves out

• TDS. If the price is ₹50 lakh or more, you must deduct 1% of every payment and deposit it with the income tax department. From April 2026 this sits in section 393 of the Income-tax Act, 2025, which replaced section 194-IA, and it is filed on Form 141, which replaced Form 26QB, using your PAN; no TAN is needed. It is not an extra cost, since you pay the builder 1% less, but it is a job you must do for every instalment. The rate is 20% if the builder has no PAN. Buying from a seller who lives abroad works differently, so ask a tax adviser.
• Property tax. Once the flat is yours, your city corporation charges it every year. Bengaluru now has five city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority, which replaced the BBMP.
• The e-khata. Your flat’s entry in the civic property register, in your name. The builder applies to split the project’s khata into one for each flat; a provisional khata cannot be used for a sale, and the final one follows an inspection. Since late 2024 a sale in Bengaluru cannot be registered without an e-khata.
• Monthly maintenance once any advance runs out, with GST on it above ₹7,500 a month.
• Moving in. Interiors, appliances and the move itself, and rent for longer than you planned if possession slips, which is why the filed date deserves as much attention as the price. Our guide to what a possession date means covers how to read it.

How to keep the total down

• Get a dated cost sheet with every charge on it before the booking amount, and keep it.
• Hold it against the agreement’s price break-up. Anything the model agreement puts inside the total price should not reappear as an extra.
• Negotiate the builder’s lines, not the law’s. Parking, floor rise, clubhouse and legal fees can move; stamp duty cannot.
• Check the guidance value on Kaveri before you register, and how close the price sits to ₹45 lakh.
• Shop the loan. Compare the Key Facts Statement from several lenders, not just the interest rate.
• Budget the day-one cash separately. The home loan will not cover stamp duty and registration, so plan them on top of your down payment.

Every project page on this site lists the price the developer publishes, and the budget pages, from flats under ₹1 crore to luxury homes above ₹2 crore, set them side by side. Use this guide to turn any of those prices into the number you will actually pay.