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Budget continued focus on affordable housing

Many experts claim that throughout last year, many measures regarding affordable housing has been taken by government.

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The union budget's focus remained on the affordable housing segment, with two major announcements firstly having affordable housing fund via National Housing Bank and secondly the income tax relief of 5 per cent range on deals where real estate transactions are undertaken below stamp duty value. Many developers are expecting that the emphasis of the budget on the rural part will also help them indirectly. Many experts claim that throughout last year, many measures regarding affordable housing has been taken by government.

Pankaj Kapoor, Managing Director, Liases Foras, a real estate research firm said, "This is budget for Bharat, but when agriculture grows there will also be a growth of logistical real estate like ware houses, storage and others. As such not much for real estate sector as already a lot has been done in the previous budgets."

Even the focus on infrastructure like elevating railways will benefit housing industry say experts. 51 lakh more affordable homes in rural areas while 37 lakh in urban areas in the forthcoming fiscal year will help affordable housing claim developers and experts. "The continued push for affordable housing: As many as 51 lakh houses in rural areas are to be built in 2018-19. Also, a dedicated Affordable Housing Fund was announced in this Budget. These are the right moves towards achieving the vision of Housing for all by 2022," said Anuj Puri, Chairman of Anarack Property Consultants.

According to Shishir Baijal, Chairman & Managing Director, Knight Frank India, the budget has predominantly focused on revitalizing the rural economy which is a good move. "Throughout last year, measures surrounding 'Affordable Housing' were the mainstay from the perspective of real estate industry. This was also evident in the Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) and the last Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council meet where they brought down the effective rate to 8 per cent from 12 per cent. A similar trend is visible in this budget where the 'Affordable Housing' fund under National Housing Bank (NHB) has been created as a part of the priority sector lending."

Even developers think that this affordable housing fund will help them. "In-line with PMs vision of "Housing for All" by 2022, the move of setting up a dedicated fund for Affordable Housing under the National Housing Bank is welcomed. The move will help in improving formal finance penetration in the system, enabling strong growth in affordable housing loans," said Kamal Khetan, Chairman and Managing Director, Sunteck Realty Ltd.

Noted developer Niranjan Hiranandani called the Finance Minister's mention of reducing hardships faced in realty deals as positive. Experts and developers also referred to the relief in taxes in the form of a 5 per cent range where real estate transactions are undertaken below stamp duty value.

Suresh Chedda, president of CREDAI-BANM said, "The 5 per cent differential allowed from ready reckoner rate will benefit a lot of buyers in the current scenario as this will reduce their tax burden." Even Hiranandani said the same, he said, "5 per cent differential allowed from ready reckoner rate will benefit buyers, but if differential goes above 5 per cent, it can get tricky."

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