Widen Affordable Housing Bracket Give Tax Benefits
All the leading developers of Gurgaon expect widening of bracket for affordable housing segment to include houses worth more than Rs 45 lakh in the upcoming Union Budget 2022. Key expectations from Union Budget 2022 include measures to push affordable and mid income housing segment by expanding cost bracket and tax benefit for the first-time buyers.
Industry status for the sector, and sops for developers related to affordable housing and rental housing projects. A leading real estate management company, Collliers, CEO (India) & MD, Ramesh Nair, said “The sector’s long-standing demand to widen the definition of affordable housing to include houses priced over 45 lakhs in big metro cities is expected to be fulfilled this time. Also, industry status for the sector will help it access cheaper funding. He further added that government’s support in terms of liquidity infusion, reform-driven investments and fiscal support is prime to keep real estate sector afloat.
CEO of Housing.com, Makaan.com and Proptiger.com Dhruv Aggarwal said that the real estate sector need aid from the center and stated, “The realty sector is still plagued with two problems- unsold inventories and stalled projects to deal with the challenges, the sector needs a hike in the corpus of the government backed stress fund, SWAMIH, to at least Rs 1 lakh crore. This will help him in completion of stuck projects and help regain consumers’ trust.
Amarjit Bakshi, CMD of Gurgaon based developer Central Park, said they also expect credit extension for under-construction projects and exemptions for buyers. He then said, “we hope that the government will work on reducing GST, circle rates and stamp duty”. Chairman of realtor Signature Global Group and industry body Assocham’s National Council on Real Estate says “We expect the government to double the amount of fund allocation for Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. Attention to input tax credit, reducing GST on building materials and tax holiday for affordable housing developers are needed,”.
Joint Managing Director of MRG World, Rajat Goel said that the government should focus on making land availability cheaper in major cities for affordable housing sector. “Apart from that, income tax benefits must also be increased, which will help bring in more investment in real estate,”.