(This story originally appeared in on Apr 12, 2017)

A fairly new entrant in the realty market has emerged to be the most expensive residential property in Bengaluru. Purva Grande, a luxury apartment complex on Lavelle Road, has recently been included in the assessment books of Stamps and Registration (SR) Department, beating its neighbour UB Towers on Vittal Mallya Road to become the costliest. While the newbie is priced at Rs 22,946/sq ft, UB Towers' value in the government records is Rs22,388/sq ft.The guidance value notification for 2017-18, which was published recently by the Stamps and Registration Department (rates effective from April 1 onwards) does not have any major revision of property rates. The slump in the real estate industry, made worse by demonetisation, made the government defer the property price revision for the year. With a little tweak here and there, some new properties have been assessed and included in the notification.Purva Grande on Lavelle Road, a luxury 3 and 4 BHK residential complex, with unit area ranging from 3,000 sq ft to 4,350 sq ft, is currently being transacted for up to Rs 13 crore. Last year, Wimbledon Court on Race Course Road was priced above UB City by the SR Department, but was brought down subsequently. Purva Grande came into the sub-registrar's fold this year with Rs 22,946 per sq ft.Raj Bhavan Road continues to be the costliest area for plots at Rs 25,000/sq ft, while Cunningham Road from Chandrika-Balekundri Circle stretch, which commanded the highest price for many years, is currently priced at Rs 22,509/sq ft. Sankey Road up to Bellary Road, another area which is one among the costliest, is Rs 22,304/sq ft. Another new property that has entered the valuation books is Prestige Edwardian on Cunningham Road, which is valued at Rs 20,139/sq ft.Inspector General of Registration and Commissioner of Stamps Manoj Kumar Meena told Bangalore Mirror: "We have not revised the property rates. Only the new and unlisted properties were assessed and prices have been fixed. Since we need to notify property rates for this financial year, a fresh notification with area-wise guidance value have been published. The government has decided not to revise the property value for the next one year.'' The department which is one of the top three revenue grossers for the state's kitty has suffered a massive shortage of Rs 1,350 crore in its collection through stamp duty and registration.The commercial high-rise, Prestige-Khoday towers, opposite Raj Bhavan, which was not cleared by the police for security reasons, has now been approved for occupancy. This time, the property has made it to the records — it has been assessed at Rs 15,000/sq ft. Also Queen's Court apartment at Queen's Circle has a fresh assessment — Rs 8,382/sq ft.