The unfulfilled demand of more than 24 million houses in the country needs large scale impetus to achieve desired results. Allowing deduction for investment into affordable housing is a welcome step and will surely boost morale of housing industry and will accelerate investments in affordable housing.
With the reasonable expectation of a roof over the head not very long ago, the real estate boom in the last decade has scaled up the liberty of choice for the average home buyers. While the aspirations of even the middle and lower middle income with moderate budgets have gone up, there are very many residential projects launched in recent times that seem to fill the gap with the promise of faster deliveries, hi-tech amenities, luxurious lifestyle, lush green surroundings within the affordable range of 20-40 lakhs.
Seven years ago, the managing committee of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) suddenly started breaking down the existing Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium to start building–what they led everyone to believe–would be Mumbai’s first international Olympic size indoor stadium. The project was conceived in 2003 to be worth around Rs 40 crore and scheduled to be completed in 18 months. Seven years and Rs 200 crore later, it still isn’t functional, but the superstructure is ready.
The country’s largest realty firm, DLF, is today launching one of the costliest residential projects offering 38 luxury housing units at a price range of Rs 15-25 crore. The company will launch a super luxury residential project DLF King’s Court, which is spread over 2.3 acres of land at Greater Kailash-II in South Delhi, with a project cost of about Rs 700 crore, PTI reported, citing sources.
Mumbai city has been known to receive heavy rainfall during the monsoons. Being a coastal city, Mumbai needs to understand the requirement for costal construction and heavy rainfall. More than 80% of the pre-1990s construction is in distress because of poor quality material and harshness of environment. Despite all this, Mumbai was one of the last cities to take up blended cement that helps fight problems related to waterproofing.
The time of the year has come when everyone is dreaming about the Finance Minister’s briefcase. Though real estate is ready with its list of expectations, experts believe that this year it would be good to expect much from the government owing to the kind of fiscal deficit government is going through. Expectations are high because of the increase in home loan interest rates, which have hampered the affordability of the buyer.
A random Survey of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India said that in the view of continuous elevated inflation and increase of price of commodity across globe, has made out a strong case for continuation of stimulus package so that the growth momentum is not spiked.
The Confederation of Real Developers Association of India has said the Government could consider a scheme along the lines of the First-Time Home Buyer Tax Credit allowed in the US with the benefits going directly to the consumer.
I am relatively dissatisfied with the budget focus on the sector as no efforts made to the growth of the sector. My wish list to the Finance Minister is to relax the provisioning norms of banks for Real Estate loans, sector status to real estate, clarity on service tax & VAT, with some relaxation and to increase the interest exemption on Housing loan. But then the Finance Minister has not consulted the industry representatives in the last few years.
While the realty sector is cribbing for under representation in budget for the last few years, Atul Modak, Head of Mumbai-based Kohinoor City goes a step further to say realty sector not only gets under represented but also it is treated with a bias. He asserts that instead of seeing it as one of the sector responsible for growth of the economy, it is looked with a bias and taxed accordingly. In an interview with Ravi Sinha, he shares his budget wish list and concerns for the sector.