Budget 2018: Real Estate Sector Welcomes Housing For All Scheme

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented Budget 2018 in Parliament on Thursday. Budget 2018 was majorly focused on agriculture and farmers, but announcements for the affordable housing sector pleased the real estate sector too. The real estate sector sees Union Budget 2018 as a balanced one with focus on affordable housing. However, Union Budget 2018 will not have any direct impact on the sector as the expectations of concessional GST for housing sector overall was not met, said real estate experts.

View from real estate sector

“The budget was completely skewed towards agriculture health and education. Real estate was a no-show on the budget as none of the expectations of concessional GST for housing sector overall, stamp duty regularisation to 3 % overall or change in capital gain tax window on REIT, change in income tax slabs got covered”, said Parth Mehta, Managing Director,  Paradigm Realty.

“The salaried group significantly contribute to the industry. The standard deduction will be a breather to the potential buyers and will endow them with higher purchasing power when it comes to real estate investment. Conventions pertaining to digitalised transactions will also provide transparency in the ambit of Indian Real Estate. This will facilitate fair play for organised players and will also curb the fraudulent practices at the same time”, Parth Mehta further said.

“However, the goal of housing for all by 2022 is quite on the track as the government is planning to build one crore houses under PMAY(Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana) and will also setting up a dedicated housing fund under the NHB for priority sector lending. The demand will also escalate as the home buyers will be provided with the ease of credit for aspirational or affordable homes. The mission of building smart city is another step in the right direction and will effectively influence the demand for housing in times to come”, Mehta added.